The Defense Department’s chief research agency is launching a new approach to helping the human body fight off diseases and illnesses. For years, the medical-professional community has grown increasingly concerned that antibiotics are becoming less effective in thwarting illnesses because patients’ bodies are harboring more resistant pathogens. Rather than continue chasing new antibiotics that likely will only foster development of new resistant strains, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants to find ways to increase patients’ abilities to fight off illnesses. The program, called THoR (Technologies for Host Resistance), debuted March 31. “Our aim … is to lay the foundation for new treatments that would enable the body to more easily and safely cope with infection,” said Army Col. Matt Hepburn, the project’s program manager. “These new treatments would prevent the body’s overreaction to infection and buy time for the individual’s natural recovery mechanisms to kick in,” Hepburn said. DARPA is seeking input from prospective research institutions and contractors, and will move forward with the best proposal concepts. The project will take three approaches:
* Discovery of which animal populations are resistant or tolerant to infection.
* Identification of mechanisms for tolerance, within species, tissues or cells.
* Identification and validation of effective pro-tolerance intervention mechanisms among animal populations.
