Submission history
Received: 6 October 2021
Accepted: 22 December 2021
Acknowledgments
We thank P. Chartrand for supplies and logistics management, and H. Shan, M. Chen, C. Yang, B. Gomes, M. Galasso, T. Ku, and O. Hough for support.
Funding: This work was funded by the University Health Network Foundation (to M.C.), the Collaborative Health Research Project funds from the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (no. 433417; to M.C., L.W., and S.G.W.), and the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute PDF Award (to A.W.).
Author contributions: A.W., R.V.P.R., A.A., E.B., E.A.-B., V.M., Y.Z., P.R., H.M., H.G. and P.P. participated in data acquisition and model development. P.R. and H.M. expressed the Azymes used in the study. A.W. performed the in vitro experiments. A.W., R.V.P.R., A.A., E.B., E.A.-B., H.G., and V.M. performed the ex vivo experiments. Y.Z. performed the immunohistochemistry staining. A.W. and R.V.P.R. performed the multiplex assays. P.P. did the blinded histological scorings. A.G. and V.M. provided operational assistance. A.W., M.L., T.K.W., C.C.-G., K.T., J.N.K., L.W., S.K., S.G.W., and M.C. were involved in the conception and experimental design of the study. A.W. and M.C. wrote and prepared the manuscript with input from all authors. M.C. was the study supervisor.
Competing interests: M.C., T.K.W., and S.K. are shareholders of Traferox Inc. and consultants for Lung Bioengineering Inc. S.G.W., J.N.K., H.M., and P.R. are founders of ABOzymes Biomedical Inc., which is commercializing the enzymes described. A.W., M.C., S.K., J.N.K., P.R., and S.G.W. are inventors on patent application (PCT no. WO2020034043A1) submitted by the University of British Columbia and the University Health Network that pertains to the results presented in the paper.
Data and materials availability: All data associated with this study are present in the paper or the Supplementary Materials. Enzymes (FpGalNAc deacetylase and FpGalactosaminidase) were provided from S.G.W. under a material transfer agreement with the University of British Columbia (UBC). UBC is in the process of licensing the IP for the enzymes to the company ABOzymes.