OTTAWA, Ontario - Caprion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held Montreal-based biopharmaceutical company exploiting "shape-shifting" proteins as targets for diagnostics and therapeutic intervention, received a C$2.5 million (US$1.73 million) investment from Ventures West of Vancouver.

The investment was made on behalf of Ventures West VI Limited Partnership and the Bank of Montreal Capital Corp.

Prion proteins are the best-known shape-shifters and are the focus of Caprion's earliest products. Caprion is using its expertise in protein conformational change as a key interventional target in the development of neurological and immunological therapies.

Prions are novel infectious agents that were first described in the early 1980s. The initial hypothesis that these molecules were composed only of protein flew in the face of traditional science, which dictated that all infectious agents must contain nucleic acids in order to replicate. Over the years, prion theory has evolved and is now widely accepted in the scientific community. The mechanism of how these particles cause disease and multiply is even more intriguing. Prions are capable of converting normal proteins found in the body into dangerous ones simply by inducing normal proteins to alter their shape or conformation.

This process is called "recruitment," but according to Lloyd Segal, president and CEO of Caprion, the company refers to it as "shape-shifting" to reflect the variety of conformations these proteins can adopt.

Scientists at Caprion are convinced that shape-shifters in addition to prions are central to understanding a variety of diseases. In light of this, the company is adopting a strategy of therapeutic and diagnostic development, one that focuses on protein structure as a key interventional target in disease, Segal added.

The prion diseases are referred to collectively as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). These are fatal neurodegenerative conditions in which the brain becomes riddled with holes. The most prevalent disease of this type is "mad cow disease," or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Other familiar examples include scrapie, which affects sheep; kuru, found in isolated tribes in New Guinea; and Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease, another human prion disease.

It is believed the disease was transmitted to animals through feed contaminated with an infectious TSE agent. Since this discovery, hundreds of thousands of cattle have been diagnosed with BSE and millions have been destroyed in an effort to curb propagation of the condition.

Rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of TSEs do not exist today and this is where Caprion hopes to come in, developing rapid blood-based diagnostics for detecting TSEs. Caprion's proprietary technologies include prion receptors, antibodies and in vitro assays that mimic recruitment.

"We are recognized as global leaders in prion technology, and our goal is to leverage that expertise to detect and treat other diseases in which similar phenomena are at work," Segal said.

In August, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., of Westbrook, Maine, and Caprion entered into a collaboration on the development of Caprion's proprietary reagents for the diagnosis of mad cow disease and other TSEs.

IDEXX received the exclusive global rights for veterinary applications in diagnostics and therapeutics, while Caprion retained all rights to human diagnostic and therapeutic applications. IDEXX made an equity investment in Caprion, and will support Caprion's research.

The goal of the collaboration is development of a rapid diagnostic for detecting BSE in live cattle. Current detection methods require brain tissue samples from slaughtered animals. A live animal diagnostic would allow governments and producers to implement cost-effective surveillance programs to protect and validate disease-free status.