JERUSALEM, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have found that the interferon-beta protein helps the immune system fight severe inflammations, which may lead to the development of new drugs, the University of Haifa reported on Thursday.
When inflammation occurs with bacteria (pathogen) penetrating a tissue in the body, neutrophil white blood cells start fighting the invaders.
In a normal state where the cells manage to kill the bacterium, the inflammation ends when these white cells undergo a planned cell death.
At this point, other white blood cells (macrophages) enter the scene, swallow the dead cells and restore the tissue to normal function.
Deficiencies in this activity may cause the body to continue fighting the tissue, which may lead to scarring or autoimmune disease.
In cases of infections of the internal organs, such as the liver or lungs, the scarring may cause the damaged organ to stop functioning, which will require transplantation and may result in death.
Through experiments in mice, the Israeli researchers looked for new molecular mechanisms involved in the inflammation healing process, and found that macrophages express the interferon beta protein.
In the research, published in the journal Nature Communications, it was also found that this protein promotes the healing process by accelerating the planned neutrophils death, speeding up the "cleansing" of the dead cell residue from the tissue and helping to restore the tissue.
This protein also puts the body on alert for a possible fight against viruses that may attack immediately after the bacterial inflammation.
The research revealed the possibility of using and developing drugs based on interferon beta to treat chronic inflammation or even cases of strong and rapid inflammations, leading to an overall system collapse.
So far, only two other proteins originating from the immune system are known to play such a significant role in the process of ending the inflammation, but it wasn't possible so far to produce drugs based on these proteins.
In contrast, drugs based on interferon beta are already available, treating other diseases. Because this protein has already undergone all tests, it may also serve as a basis for severe inflammation drugs.
