Researchers create mouse lacking key inflammation gene

In a paper published yesterday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), researchers from Boston University School of Dental Medicine generated a mouse model exhibiting reduced inflammation.

The Boston University researchers found that the transcription factor LITAF (Lipopolysaccharide [LPS]-Induced TNF-Alpha Factor) controls inflammation through a completely different pathway than the better known and studied NF-kB transcriptional regulator.

Drugs regulating TNF-alpha through the better-known NF-kB pathway such as Remicade, Embrel, and Humira represent a multibillion market. The LITAF transcription factor offers a new approach to treating inflammatory disorders along with other immunological conditions. Researchers are offering this in vivo model for sale to spearhead discovery of drugs against inflammatory disorders such as arthritis and Crohn's disease.

In the study, Boston University researchers created a mouse lacking the gene that encodes for the LITAF protein. They found that several cytokines were induced at lower levels in the LITAF-deficient mice compared with the levels observed in the LITAF-positive control mice. Specifically, the deficient mice were more resistant to LPS-induced lethality.

“The generation of the macrophage-specific LITAF-deficient animals opens new opportunities for assessing the role of LITAF in inflammation in hopes of designing anti-LITAF drugs for major inflammatory diseases,” says Dr. Salomon Amar of Boston University, the lead author of the paper. Amar discovered the LITAF transcription factor in 1999.

Researchers, who have applied to patent the mouse, are now working on whether other molecules work in synergy with LITAF.

Media Contact

Mari Megias EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://www.bu.edu

All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry

Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.

Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Memory Self-Test via Smartphone

… Can Identify Early Signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Dedicated memory tests on smartphones enable the detection of “mild cognitive impairment”, a condition that may indicate Alzheimer’s disease, with high accuracy….

The Sound of the Perfect Coating

Fraunhofer IWS Transfers Laser-based Sound Analysis of Surfaces into Industrial Practice with “LAwave”. Sound waves can reveal surface properties. Parameters such as surface or coating quality of components can be…

Partners & Sponsors