Extracorporeal Blood Purification in Sepsis and Liver Failure II

Aim of this project is the development of adsorbents for extracorporeal blood purification with focus on liver toxins and sepsis. Commercially available adsorbents show several disadvantages, such as adsorption of the anticoagulants heparin and citrate as well as negatively charged proteins such as Protein C. Furthermore, to remove all target substances of liver failure, these systems are based on two different adsorbents. This project has de goal to develop one adsorbent for all liver toxins, offering the advantage of reduced extracorporeal volume and easier handling. This adsorbent will be based on a hydrophobic, uncharged resin. Additionally the new adsorbent should be tested for removal of neurotoxic substances like beta-amyloid, which build debris in brain and blood vessels of patients which suffer on Alzheimer disease or Down-Syndrome. Another work package focuses on the development on an adsorbent for cytokines for their use in sepsis treatment. This adsorbent will be a highly porous Ethylvinylbenzol-Divinylbenzol copolymer with a pore size distribution which is optimized for Interleukins and TNFa and, therefore, offers a very good biocompatibility. As third work package, lipoteichoic acid (LTA, cell wall compound of gram-positive bacteria) will be characterized in human plasma and a method for LTA removal in extracorporeal blood purification will be established.