New molecule may lead to inflammation inhibitor

Scientists have developed a new drug-like molecule that can inhibit inflammation. The find has shown promise in preventing the progression of multiple sclerosis.

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have developed a small drug-like molecule called WEHI-345 that binds to and inhibits a key immune signaling protein called RIPK2. This prevents the release of inflammatory cytokines. Examining WEHI-345’s potential to treat immune diseases in experimental models of MS, it was found that WEHI-345 prevented further progression of the disease in 50 percent of cases after symptoms of MS first appeared.

Results of mouse model studies sometimes do not translate to humans and may be years away from being a marketable treatment. Calling the results extremely important, researchers said WEHI-345 had potential as an anti-inflammatory agent.

The study’s lead author, Dr Ueli Nachbur, said institute scientists would use WEHI-345 to further investigate the signaling pathway that produced inflammatory cytokines and to develop a better, stronger inhibitor of RIPK2 for treating inflammatory disease. “This signaling pathway must be finely balanced, because WEHI-345 only delayed signaling rather than blocked it. Nevertheless, this delay is enough to completely shut off cytokine production,” he said.

The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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Study: Genetic variant may be MS risk factor

In a new study, researchers testing DNA in siblings with MS discovered a genetic variant in women that may increase risk of developing multiple sclerosis. According to study authors, the variant may be the one of the strongest genetic risk factors for MS discovered to date.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago were able to test three sisters among a group of five siblings between the ages of 23 and 26, all diagnosed with MS. What they found was a genetic change known as a single nucleotide polymorphism, or SNP – a change in a single base-pair of the DNA – in a gene called STK11, which plays a role in tumor suppression and is believed to have several roles in brain function. They found the variant in all three they tested.
To determine if the SNP could be a contributing factor to the siblings’ multiple sclerosis, the researchers screened DNA samples from 1,400 people – 750 with MS and 650 without – provided by Jorge Oksenberg at the University of California, San Francisco, who is a leading expert on the genetics of MS. They found that the SNP was 1.7 times as prevalent in women with MS as in women without the disease, making it one of the highest known genetic risk factors for MS.
Based on their analysis, the researchers estimate that the STK11 SNP is present in about 7 percent of the general population. But because far fewer people develop MS, other genetic or nongenetic factors must play a role in the development of the disease, said senior author Doug Feinstein, professor of anesthesiology at UIC and research biologist at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center.
The variant occurs almost twice as often among women with MS as in women without the disease, making it “one of the strongest genetic risk factors for MS discovered to date,” said Feinstein.
The findings were published in the journal ASN Neuro.