Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan

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Speaker: Jeffrey B. Kaplan, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

The publication, entitled "Both leukotoxin and poly-N-acetylglucosamine surface polysaccharide protect Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans cells from macrophage killing" authored by Dr. Jeffrey B. Kaplan and his colleagues, demonstrates that when biofilm-embedded Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (A.a) is treated with DispersinB™ it makes the bacteria susceptible to macrophage killing. Previously, it has been shown that bacteria in a biofilm are 100 to 1000 times more resistant to antimicrobials and host's immune responses than their planktonic counterparts.

"Our studies showed that the pre-treatment of biofilm-embedded "A.a" cells with DispersinB™ removes the biofilm and renders the cells sensitive to killing by the body's macrophages", stated Dr. Jeffery Kaplan, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

"The findings of Dr. Kaplan's group suggest that when DispersinB™ is used in products such as wound gels and device coatings, either in combination with an antimicrobial or alone, it makes biofilm-embedded bacterial pathogens susceptible to killing by both antimicrobials and macrophages or by our body's macrophages alone", added Dr. Sri Madhyastha, Chief Scientific Officer of Kane Biotech.

The discovery of dispersin B was made by Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral Biology at UMDNJ, who was able to show that the novel enzyme is responsible for the dispersal of bacterial biofilms.

A study published by Dr. Kaplan's team from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (July 30, 2007) - Kane Biotech Inc. (TSX-V:KNE), a biotechnology company engaged in the development of products that prevent and disperse microbial biofilms, is pleased to announce a research publication from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) on studies using DispersinB™ against field isolates of the swine pathogen Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. The paper appeared in the recent online edition of the 'Microbial Pathogenesis' journal.

The research findings reported in the publication, entitled "Poly-N-acetylglucosamine mediates biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae" by Izano et al., co-authored by Dr. Kaplan from UMDNJ, demonstrates that the mechanism of biofilm formation in A. pleuropneumoniae is similar to that of E. coli, S. aureus and S. epidermidis.

"We foundthat pre-treatment of A. pleuropneumoniae biofilms with DispersinB™ makes them almost 10 times more sensitive to killing by ampicillin antibiotic as compared to treatment with antibiotic alone" stated Dr. Kaplan.
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DispersinB™ was discovered by Dr. Kaplan at UMDNJ and this patent pending technology has been exclusively licensed to Kane Biotech on a global basis for medical, industrial, agricultural and environmental applications.

About Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan

Jeffrey Kaplan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1980 and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the same institution in 1985. He received postdoctoral training in the Department of Microbiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., and in the Department of Microbiology at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, N.Y. Dr. Kaplan worked for 10 years in the Oncology Department at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Pearl River, N.Y., before joining the Department of Oral Biology at New Jersey Dental School in 1999.

Dr. Kaplan's lab is studying the detachment and dispersal of bacterial cells from biofilms with an emphasis on the gram-negative periodontal pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. His research is funded by several grant agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. His discovery of DispersinB™ supported by an NIH grant was listed in the "NIH Annual Performance Report of 2004" as one of the thirteen achievements of the year.

The research findings reported in the publication, entitled "Synergistic activity of dispersin B and cefamandole nafate in the inhibition of staphylococcal growth on polyurethanes" co-authored by Dr. Gianfranco Donelli from the Department of Health, Istituto Superiore di Santa, Rome, Italy, and Dr. Jeff Kaplan from the Department of Oral Microbiology, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), demonstrates that DispersinB is not cytotoxic and that DispersinB treatment makes bacteria growing in biofilms more susceptible to an antibiotic such as cefamandole nafate.
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"This research not only provides evidence that the DispersinB enzyme is non-toxic but also demonstrates that when DispersinB is combined with an antibiotic it enhances the activity of the antibiotic against biofilm-embedded bacteria such as Staphylococcus epidermidis" stated Dr. Kaplan, also the inventor of the technology.
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About Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan

Jeffrey Kaplan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1980 and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the same institution in 1985. He received postdoctoral training in the Department of Microbiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., and in the Department of Microbiology at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, N.Y. Dr. Kaplan worked for 10 years in the Oncology Department at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Pearl River, N.Y., before joining the Department of Oral Biology at New Jersey Dental School in 1999. Dr. Kaplan's lab is studying the detachment and dispersal of bacterial cells from biofilms with an emphasis on the gram-negative periodontal pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. His research is funded by the several grant agencies, including the National Institute of Health (NIH), USA. His discovery of DispersinB supported by the NIH grant was listed in the "NIH Annual Performance Report of 2004" as one of the thirteen achievements of the year.

Jeffrey B. Kaplan of the New Jersey Dental School in Newark has been investigating another approach: the use of an enzyme called dispersin B4, which cleaves the polysaccharide molecules that hold a biofilm together.Research has shown that pre-coating catheters with dispersin B prevented the formation of S. epidermidis biofilms, and, says Kaplan, it may also lead to a way to make the bacteria in existing biofilms more sensitive to conventional antibiotic therapy.
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4. Kaplan, Jeffrey, 2004.

Speaker: Jeffrey B. Kaplan, PhDUniversity of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Jeffrey Kaplan, Assistant Professor University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey