University of Alberta researchers are making slow but sure — pun intended — developments in organ transplant and heart surgery medicine inspired by snail hibernation. Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, is leading the team that discovered a novel drug derived from the secrets of snail naps. The drug, named SNAP (Snail Activator of PHLPP1), safely puts non-hibernating animal organs in a deep metabolic sleep. “We had the idea that we could try to mimic what hibernating animals do in humans,” Michelakis explained. “When animals go into hibernation, their respiration and their heart rate gets extremely low; like three to five (beats) per minute. Humans can’t tolerate that; they need to be intubated or they need a pacemaker.” Ischemia — or the drop in the delivery of oxygen and other nutrients to tissue during low blood supply — and its complications are the number one cause of death in humans, according to the university’s research. SNAP works to decrease the dependency of human cells to oxygen and nutrients, which would shield organs from the effects of ischemia. “We characterize the molecule, then we mimic nature by making a drug that looks exactly like it … We took this drug and gave it to mouse and human tissues and showed that it has a very similar effect in slowing down their metabolism, putting them in sleep, like it does in snails,” Michelakis said. The university says it’s the first direct transfer of hibernation biology to non-hibernators. Its success would mean better preservation of transplant organs, heart attack care, longevity medicine or even inducing hibernation in astronauts during space travel. Long-haul organ transplants, for example, could have a longer “shelf life” due to reduced reliance on glucose and oxygen, Michelakis explained. The drug could also be used on hearts during bypass surgery, reducing the damage done while the organ is out of the body. Michelakis is also excited about the possibility of slowing human age-related disease. “Dementia, heart failure, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer,” he said. “They may appear less frequently or later … There are drugs like that, Ozempic and metformin, that do similar things. We believe that our drug is in the same category.” The project is still in its research phase, but Michelakis says even the publishing of a research paper is a promising step. His team was funded by the University of Alberta Hospital Foundation, the federal government’s New Frontiers in Research Fund and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The next step is clinical application to organs before figuring out long-term effects of SNAP. “People die every day because of decreased blood flow to the heart or any organ. Seeing animals that have solved this question and they live around us, but they don’t suffer from these problems, is provocative and makes you think that perhaps we’re missing something big in medicine,” Michelakis said. “Although this sounds too good to be true, it’s a huge motivation because if it is true, even the small possibility that it is could change things big time.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Brandon Lynch
