Partnership will explore compound’s activity against pulmonary fibrosis.

ImmuneRegen BioSciences is collaborating with a researcher from the University of Rochester Medical School on his investigation into radiation’s effect on the human pulmonary system. ImmuneRegen is hopeful that the partnership will throw light on additional mechanisms and potential indications for preclinical wound-healing candidate Homspera.


The collaborating investigator is Jacob Finkelstein, Ph.D., a professor in the departments of pediatrics, radiation oncology, and environmental medicine. Along with researchers from ImmuneRegen, Dr. Finkelstein will evaluate Homspera’s ability to mitigate the effects of otherwise lethal radiation exposure in animals.


Of particular interest to both ImmuneRegen and Dr. Finkelstein’s laboratory are the mechanisms by which exposure to sufficient doses of radiation triggers pulmonary fibrosis. Dr. Finkelstein’s laboratory has shown the involvement of pulmonary epithelial cells and fibroblasts in postradiation fibrosis, specifically in the growth and regulation of connective tissues in the lung. These are the same cell types that Homspera has been shown to affect, as enhanced cell and connective tissue proliferation and appropriate developmental growth signals accelerate wound healing.


Homspera, an analog of the endogenous neurokinin Substance P, has been shown to affect a number of immunological and nonimmunological cell types via its receptor-binding activity at the neurokinin-1 receptor. It has also been shown to have hematopoietic stem cell stimulatory activity as well as immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activity in a number of model systems, ImmuneRegen reports.

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