Development of nanoparticulate Nucleic Acid based therapeutics, snares™, for the
treatment of infectious diseases
Kostas Hatzixanthis1, Teresa Díaz Calvo1, Davide Carta1, Doroty Codoni1, Alejandro
Marin1, Clara Franch1, Peter Warn2, Debora Berti3, Francesca Baldelli Bombelli4, Chris
Morris4, Grant Wheeler4, Paolo Gasco5 and Michael McArthur1
1
Procarta Biosystems, Norwich, UK, 2Euprotec, Manchester, UK, 3CSGI, Florence, Italy,
4
UEA, Norwich, UK, 5Nanovector, Torino, Italy
Keywords: New antimicrobials, Transcriptional Factor Decoys (TFDs), antibacterials, nanoparticles,
Clostridium difficile, MRSA, Gram negatives
Abstract: Procarta aims to provide a lasting solution to the treatment of bacterial infections and the
rising threat of antibiotic resistance, using a proprietary technology based on nanoparticulate
oligonucleotide therapeutics. These nucleic acid-based, Transcription Factor Decoys (TFDs), act on
novel genomic targets by capturing key regulatory proteins to block essential bacterial genes and
defeat infection. This is a platform technology allowing rapid development of novel antibacterials to
treat a number of infections, all delivered by the same type of nanoparticle and has been validated
in vitro and in vivo against MRSA and C. difficile. With both pathogens nanomolar efficacy has been
shown. Here we report our most recent work including our recent successful in vitro data against
Gram negative bacteria (including confocal microscopy).
The concept of the FP7 IAPP project DNA TRAP, will also be presented. This is a 4-year Marie Curie
IAPP project, started in October 2013 and is coordinated by Procarta Biosystems. It is designed to
facilitate the exchange of knowledge and technology between 2 leading European research
organisations and 2 SMEs each with an interest in researching the fundamental properties of
nanostructured drug delivery systems to improve the capabilities of DNA-based therapeutic
treatments.