Millions of people suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, which causes a painful set of symptoms and is difficult to treat. Now researchers have developed a technique that works well in mice -. Using bacteria to deliver soothing compounds directly to the site of inflammation
Two common forms of inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, impose episodes rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, weight loss and diarrhea. There is no cure. Instead, patients face a life of a drug. They also risk the side effects of long-term treatment.
One approach is to imitate his way of reducing inflammation in the body. In humans and other mammals, this signal is given by proteins called cytokines. Molecular biologist Lothar Steidler and colleagues at the Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology in Flanders, Belgium, designed harmless bacteria called Lactococcus lactis to produce the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. The researchers then injected the The amended. lactis in two strains of mice, one designed to develop colitis and another that was given a gastrointestinal irritant to mimic colitis. In both groups, the inflammation has decreased by about half, the researchers report in the August 25 issue of Science .
The technique is "an inexpensive way to provide large amounts of an immunomodulatory factor directly the site of inflammation," says gastroenterologist Brian Dieckgraefe Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, Missouri. But he warns that the technique has some problems. Among other things, the bacteria do not remain in the colon and should be replenished daily.
Related Sites
For more information on this project
Crohn's disease and inflammatory Foundation of America
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