Ulcerative Colitis

But now doctors at the University of Virginia Health System have successfully tested in animals a new, painless, non-invasive technique to catch IBD early.

Inflammatory bowel disease affects about 600,000 Americans every year and the disease can be both painful and debilitating.

This technique uses tiny microbubbles developed at UVa that are about the size of a red blood cell.

Along with common ultrasound, the microbubbles measure the severity and extent of inflammation in the intestine.

The outside lipid shell of these tiny microbubbles is coated with antibodies to specific molecules that are over-expressed during intestinal inflammation.

The tiny bubbles then attach themselves to these molecules and are seen using ultrasound, allowing inflammation to be evaluated.

Tests in mice with spontaneous Crohn's disease showed that the severity and extent of disease correlated to increased video intensity of the microbubbles in ultrasound images.

"This technology has the potential to be used in a clinical setting to non-invasively detect intestinal inflammation, as well as monitor disease severity during the course and treatment of IBD," said Theresa T.

Pizarro, Ph.D., associate professor of gastroenterology at UVa and lead author of a paper describing the imagining technique in the January 2006 issue of the journal Gastroenterolo...

Callisto is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new drugs to treat various forms of cancer and other serious afflictions.

Callisto's drug candidates in development currently include anti-cancer agents in clinical development, in addition to drugs for a range of other significant health care market segments, including biodefense.

One of the Company's lead drug candidates, L-Annamycin, is being developed as a treatment for forms of relapsed leukemia, a currently incurable blood cancer.

Callisto initiated a clinical trial of L-Annamycin in adult relapsed acute lymphocytic leukemia patients in 4Q 2005.

L-Annamycin, a new compound from the anthracycline family of proven anti-cancer drugs, has a novel therapeutic profile, including activity against resistant diseases and significantly reduced cardiotoxicity, or damage to the heart, compared to currently available drug alternatives.

Another anti-cancer drug, Atiprimod, is in development to treat relapsed multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.

Atiprimod has entered Phase I/IIa human clinical trials in relapsed multiple myeloma patients.

Callisto also has drugs in pre-clinical development for gastro-intestinal inflammation, and a program focused on the development of a drug to protect against Staphylococcus and Streptococcus biowarfare agents.

Callisto has exclusive worldwide licenses from AnorMED Inc.

and M.D.

Anderson Cancer Center to develop, manufacture, u...