Description:
Reference #: 01657
The University of South Carolina is offering licensing opportunities for Retinol Acid Pathway Modulators for Treatment of Congenital Vascular Malformation.
Background:
Congenital vascular malformations (CVM) are a major threat to public health with a 1.5% incident rate in the general population. Congenital capillary malformation (CM), a.k.a., port-wine birthmarks or stains (PWB or PWS), are the most common type of CVM with an estimated prevalence of 0.3–0.5% per live births. The pulsed dye laser (PDL) or photodynamic therapy (PDT) is the treatment of choice for PWB. Unfortunately, complete removal of PWB occurs in less than 10% of patients. Additionally, about 20% of lesions have no response to laser treatment. Between 16.3% and 50% of patients experience re-darkening of their PWB as early as 5 years after multiple PDL treatments. The current laser-based modalities result in inadequate efficacies which urgently needs a solution for patients.
Invention Description:
This invention is for repurposing of a category of FDA-approved drugs in combination with laser therapy for treatment of blood vessel abnormalities. This innovation involves the utilization of RA signaling activators to improve laser treatment efficacy. This represents a significant advancement in the field of dermatology, suggesting a potential new approach to enhance the success rate of laser treatments for PWB patients.
Potential Applications:
This innovation can be used to improve pulsed dye laser (PDL) or photodynamic therapy (PDT) which is the preferred choice of treatment for PWB.
Advantages and Benefits:
Some MAPK inhibitors such as axitinib have also been investigated for this purpose. However, the efficacy is unsatisfactory. Additionally, the side effects are a major concern for pediatric patients and the costs are high.
Our method has a good safety profile which will be applicable to pediatric patients. In addition, the cost is low, which will not cause a big economic burden to patients.