Discovery could lead to new drug treatments for inflammatory diseases including Alzheimer's
A new study, led by Queen’s University Belfast, has characterised a brand-new molecule that can completely block the inflammation associated with a range of diseases including Alzheimer's, asthma, arthritis and obesity.
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The team hopes that this “inflammasome blocking” molecule may lead to the development of new, targeted anti-inflammatory drugs which will help treat these diseases.
The results have been published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
The study was co-led by Dr. Rebecca Coll from the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine (WWIEM) at Queen's University Belfast and Dr. Kevin Wilhelmsen from BioAge Labs, the US biotech company which discovered the new class of molecules.
Inflammation within the body can become chronic, meaning it persists for a long time and the immune response ends up damaging healthy cells, tissues, and organs.
This damaging inflammation contributes to a huge number of diseases including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis, arthritis, IBD, asthma, COPD and obesity.
Researchers are currently looking at ways to regulate inflammation to slow or block this process to stop disease from developing and worsening.
Research over the last 10-20 years has shown that a protein complex called the NLRP3 inflammasome plays a key role in causing damaging inflammation in many of these diseases.
Whilst previous clinical trials have tested molecules that restrict NLRP3 activity, this new study investigates a new class of molecules that block NLRP3 in a completely new way.
Dr Rebecca Coll, Senior Lecturer in Immunobiology and a senior author on the research paper, explains:
“In this study, we have characterised a totally new class of molecules that work very differently to existing molecules, blocking NLRP3’s inflammation-causing activity completely.
“This research breakthrough highlights the benefit of combining academic expertise with industry to make real-world impact. We hope this discovery will lead to the development of new, targeted anti-inflammatory drugs which will help treat these devastating diseases.”
Kristen Fortney, CEO and co-founder of BioAge Labs said: “Working with Dr. Coll's team at Queen's, with their deep expertise in inflammasome biology, was instrumental in characterizing how BioAge’s new NLRP3 inhibitors work.
“We are now starting clinical trials to take the next critical step: testing whether this novel approach can help patients. What's particularly exciting to us is that our new drug can reach the brain, not just the body, opening new possibilities for treating conditions where inflammation in the brain plays a key role, such as obesity and some forms of neurodegeneration.”
The research also involved collaboration with the University of Lyon, University of Bonn and the University of Tübingen, and was also supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Academy of Medical Sciences.
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