New Inflammation Inhibitor Discovered

It was when developing a new molecule for inhibiting the enzyme that repairs oxygen damage to DNA that the researchers found, to their surprise, that it also dampened inflammation. It turned out that the enzyme OGG1, apart from repairing DNA, also triggers inflammation. The inhibitor blocks the release of inflammatory proteins, such as TNF alpha. In trials on mice with acute pulmonary disease, the researchers succeeded in dampening the inflammation. “This discovery could give rise to a new treatment for a very serious condition,” says Professor Helleday. “We’ll now be developing our OGG1 inhibitor and examining whether it can lead to new treatments for inflammatory diseases in order to cure or relieve diseases such as sepsis, COPD and severe asthma.” The discovery was made in collaboration with Professor Istvan Boldogh from the University of Texas Medical Branch, USA. The repair pathway on which OGG1 operates was discovered by Tomas Lindahl at Karolinska Institutet in the 1970s, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015. https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/news/new-inflammation-inhibitor-discovered-311895?utm_campaign=Newsletter_TN_BreakingScienceNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=67566430&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--8vlcU5qGHxOa6aZf3mKezT37ZMks2cy-KTqMXt7FwlQjQqnWa-SDGVBR1A41E5ilCJTcmS4RQufsYIRL1LsgsiEHFTA&_hsmi=67566430