SEATTLE: A new discovery could be the key to improved treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
Scientists at the University of Queensland worked with an international team to develop a molecule that fights one of the main causes of inflammatory diseases, a breakthrough researchers say could lead to safer and cheaper treatments.
Professor Matt Cooper, from the University’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, said the molecule known as MCC950 could help prevent inflammation in immune cells.
“It is one of the first molecules we’ve ever seen that can attack this complex we call the inflammasome – and that’s in every one of our immune cells, it’s a key part of our response to infection,” he said.
“But when it goes wrong, it activates these cells so then people become chronically agitated and [their] immune system goes into overdrive.”
Professor Cooper said the molecule was tested on animals and blood samples from patients in the US…