Protein engineered by NYU Langone researchers has potential for new anti-inflamatory treatment

Protein has novel impact on underlying causes of auto-immune and inflammatory diseases

2011-03-11

(Press-News.org) Researchers from across multiple disciplines at NYU Langone Medical Center created a new protein molecule derived from the growth factor progranulin may provide the basis for new therapies in inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study published in the March 10, 2011 issue of Science.

"The development of this protein extends our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that drive the growth factors and cytokines control of cartilage development and arthritis," said Chuan-ju Liu, PhD, the lead researcher and associate professor, Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Cell Biology, NYU Langone Medical Center. "Whether the protein accounts for all of the anti-inflammatory effects we observed in the study needs to replicated, but we are very encouraged by these initial results."

Over the last 20 years research in rheumatology has focused on identifying cytokines (cell-signaling protein molecules secreted by the glial cells of the nervous system and other cells in the immune system responsible for intercellular communication), leading to the inflammatory and degenerative processes in rheumatoid arthritis. The molecule created and used in this study, called ATSTTRIN (antagonist of TNF/TNFR signaling via targeting to TNF receptors), is a peptide constructed from segments of proteins that originate within a cell, which has a high affinity and specificity for binding to tumor necrosis factor receptors (TNFR).

The researchers suggest that this progranulin-derived protein could result in alternative treatments to those suffering from chronic autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's diseases, ulcerative colitis, ankylosing spondylitis, plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

### Dr. Liu's co-authors include Wei Tang and Yi Lu, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China and NYU Langone Medical Center; Qing-Yun Tian, Michael L. Dustin and Steven B. Abramson, NYU Langone Medical Center; and Xiu-Ping Yu, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China.

About NYU Langone Medical Center NYU Langone Medical Center, a world-class patient-centered integrated academic medical center, is one of the nation's premier centers for excellence in health care, biomedical research, and medical education. Located in the heart of Manhattan, NYU Langone is comprised of three hospitals – Tisch Hospital, a 705-bed acute-care tertiary facility, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, the first rehabilitation hospital in the world, with 174 beds and extensive outpatient rehabilitation programs, and the 190-bed Hospital for Joint Diseases, one of only five hospitals in the world dedicated to orthopaedics and rheumatology – plus the NYU School of Medicine, one of the nation's preeminent academic institutions. For more information visit www.NYULMC.org.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Playability or what a video game must feature to be successful

2011-03-11

This release is available in Spanish and French. What are the characteristics that a video game must have to be entertaining? Why do players prefer some video games to others? What is the difference between a game and an educational multiplayer video game? All these questions were answered by a research carried out by José Luís González Sánchez and conducted by professor Francisco Luís Gutiérrez Vela, at the Department of Languages and Computering of the University of Granada. As González Sánchez explains, playability is an abstract concept difficult to define "as it ...

USDA and Russian scientists develop high-tech crop map

2011-03-11

This release is available in Spanish. AgroAtlas is a new interactive website that shows the geographic distributions of 100 crops; 640 species of crop diseases, pests, and weeds; and 560 wild crop relatives growing in Russia and neighboring countries. Downloadable maps and geographic information system (GIS) software are also available, allowing layering of data, such as that relating major wheat production areas to concentrations of Russian wheat aphids. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plant geneticist Stephanie Greene, the impetus behind developing ...

Brain cell regrowth linked to benefits of exercise, sexual behaviors and reproductive issues

2011-03-11

Tampa, Fla. (Mar. 10, 2011) – Two studies published by an interdisciplinary team of Hong Kong researchers in the current special issue of Cell Transplantation (20:1), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/ , link the regrowth of key adult brain cells (neurogenesis) in two critical areas of the brain to both the benefits of exercise as a stress reducer and also to sexual behavior and reproductive issues. The two studies reviewing the causes and impacts of neurogenesis came out of a recent Pan Pacific Symposium on Stem Cell Research ...

Trapping prostate cancer cells to keep them from spreading provides hope

2011-03-11

Tampa, Fla. (March 10, 2011) – When prostate cancer stem cells (CSCs) were enclosed in self-assembling nanomaterials made of peptides (SAP), the SAP stopped cancer stem cell colony formation and also stopped the division of cancer cells in laboratory cultures (in vitro). According to the international team of researchers who built and tested the nano-sized traps and published their results in a recent issue of Cell Transplantation (20:1), which is freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/ , the cancer cells grew and multiplied after they ...

Study finds usage of, recommendations for supplements common within various physician specialties

2011-03-11

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 10, 2011—For physicians within several medical specialties, including dermatology, cardiology and orthopedics, personal usage of and patient recommendations for dietary supplements are quite common¹, according to a study published in Nutrition Journal, a peer-reviewed, on-line journal that focuses on the field of human nutrition. The 2008 "Life…supplemented" Healthcare Professionals (HCP) Impact Study found that 75 percent of dermatologists personally use dietary supplements and 66 percent recommend supplements to their patients; 57 percent of ...

Early male friendship as a precursor to substance abuse in girls

2011-03-11

Montreal, QC —March 10, 2011 —In childhood, boys and girls tend to form friendships almost exclusively with same-sex peers. Around early adolescence, they gradually begin to include other-sex friends in their network. A new study published in Journal of Research on Adolescence suggests that girls and boys experience this transition very differently. The findings show that girls tend to initiate the transition to a mixed-gender friendship network earlier than boys, and continue this transition at a faster pace during adolescence. As a result girls who experienced this transition ...

Scientists identify molecule that can increase blood flow in vascular disease

2011-03-11

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Circulating through the bloodstream of every human being is a rare and powerful type of cell, one that can actually create new blood vessels to bypass blockages that cause heart attacks and peripheral artery disease. Though everyone has these cells – called endothelial progenitor cells – they are often dysfunctional in people prone to vascular disease. Now researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered that a molecule – called Wnt1 – can improve the function of endothelial progenitor cells, increasing the blood flow ...

Referral to high-volume hospitals for operations fails to improve outcomes statewide

2011-03-11

Referring patients to hospitals that have the largest volume of surgical procedures does not necessarily lead to improved outcomes for the overall population, according to the results of a new study in the February issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The findings of studies that suggest the higher the volume of specialty surgical procedures performed at any given hospital, the better that hospital's outcomes will be, has resulted in calls for volume-based referrals. Most notably leading that call has been the Leapfrog Group's Evidence-Based Hospital ...

Syracuse University research team shapes cell behavior research

2011-03-11

A team led by James Henderson, assistant professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in Syracuse University's L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS) and researcher in the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute, has used shape memory polymers to provide greater insight into how cells sense and respond to their physical environment. Most cell biomechanics research has examined cell behavior on unchanging, flat surfaces. "Living cells are remarkably complex, dynamic and versatile systems, but the material substrates currently used to culture them are ...

A glove on your hand can change your mind

2011-03-11

Unconsciously, right-handers associate good with the right side of space and bad with the left. But this association can be rapidly changed, according to a study published online March 9, 2011 in Psychological Science, by Daniel Casasanto (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics) and Evangelia Chrysikou (University of Pennsylvania). Even a few minutes of using the left hand more fluently than the right can reverse right-handers' judgments of good and bad, making them think that the left is the 'right side' of space. Conceptions of good and bad are rooted in people's ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Global cervical cancer vaccine roll-out shows it to be very effective in reducing cervical cancer and other HPV-related disease, but huge variations between countries in coverage

Negativity about vaccines surged on Twitter after COVID-19 jabs become available

Global measles cases almost double in a year

Lower dose of mpox vaccine is safe and generates six-week antibody response equivalent to standard regimen

Personalised “cocktails” of antibiotics, probiotics and prebiotics hold great promise in treating a common form of irritable bowel syndrome, pilot study finds