Addressing Extracellular Matrix Breakdown That Leads to Age-Related Diseases with Dr. Sherif Idriss Elastin Biosciences

Empowered Patient Podcast

Dr. Sherif Idriss is the CEO of Elastin Biosciences, a company focused on targeting aging-related diseases by restoring elastin, a key protein in the extracellular matrix that provides elasticity and resilience to organs and tissues. They are developing small molecule therapies for diseases linked to elastin deficiency, including Williams syndrome and abdominal aortic aneurysm. As elastin degrades over time due to aging, it leads to loss of tissue structural integrity and function, contributing to numerous age-related diseases.

Sherif explains, "One of the hallmarks of aging is the loss of the extracellular matrix, which is composed of several proteins. Collagen is quite famous, but also elastin is the other major protein that is responsible for the elasticity of the different organs. For example, in our skin, the loss of elastin is associated with us looking older and having all the aging signs and wrinkles on the skin. If you imagine that there are other organs inside that we don’t visually see, then you have also the blood vessels, the lungs, a lot of the connective tissue. The extracellular matrix proteins and elastin itself are also aging in the same way and have their own form of damage one way or another. All of this contributes to aging and aging-related diseases as well."

"Another kind of disease is the category of rare diseases. In this case, we aim to target Williams syndrome, a rare disease characterized by a genetic partial deletion of around 26 genes. One of these genes is elastin itself, so some genetic material is still there, but there is not enough. We would like to try to push the elastin production up in Williams syndrome, and this would help rectify a lot of the disease issues, particularly when it comes to the cardiovascular system because Williams syndrome patients have quite a lot of issues with the cardiovascular system from birth and all through life."

#ElastinBiosciences #Aging #AgingRelatedDiseases #Elastin #WilliamsSyndrome

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