INFLAMMATION: Discovery of a new anti-inflammatory

This inhibitor of an "inflammatory" enzyme, OGG1, could well lead to new treatments for inflammatory diseases, including sepsis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and severe asthma, explain these researchers from the Karolinska Institutet. The team shows, in the journal Science, that mice lacking the gene encoding 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 do indeed show resistance to inflammation. The enzyme that binds to sites of oxidative DNA damage and initiates DNA repair is surprisingly a promising target for new anti-inflammatories.

The Swedish team not only develops a new anti-inflammatory molecule but identifies an entirely new target mechanism. "It is the discovery of a protein which, in our opinion, triggers a general mechanism allowing inflammation to develop in cells", summarizes the main author, Professor Thomas Helleday of the Oncology Department of the Karolinska Institutet.

 

The OGG1 enzyme, in addition to repairing DNA, also triggers inflammation:This discovery is the culmination of many years of research by Thomas Helleday's team on how DNA is repaired by the body. One of the goals was to fight cancer by targeting DNA damage to tumor cells. Several advances have already been reported, leading in particular to the development of a new treatment for congenital breast and ovarian cancer using PARP inhibitors, which have been available for a few years. By developing a new molecule to inhibit the enzyme that repairs DNA damage caused by oxygen, the researchers found that it also reduced inflammation. It turned out that the enzyme OGG1, in addition to repairing DNA, also triggers inflammation. By inhibiting in mice the

 

New anti-inflammatory treatments in sight? The researchers are continuing on the potential of this OGG1 inhibitor in particular for the treatment of severe inflammatory diseases including sepsis, COPD and asthma.