(Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News) – Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Dentistry and the National Jewish Health in Denver report a new drug discovery that could be useful to combat inflammation of all varieties and shows promise in fighting acute respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19.
Called TAT CARMIL1, the drug is actually a combination of two naturally occurring peptides that, when combined, work together to penetrate a cell’s membrane in order to dampen an acute inflammatory response.
In this first ex vivo study “The Leucine-Rich Repeat Region of CARMIL1 Regulates IL-1-Mediated ERK Activation, MMP Expression, and Collagen Degradation”, published in Cell Reports, the peptide reduced collagen degradation by up to 43 percent.
If deployed early enough, the researchers say, the peptide could allay some of the worst damage caused by acute inflammatory responses. (…)