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NEW GENE HELPS REGULATE PRODUCTION OF POTENTIALLY DEADLY TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA CYTOKINE
28 March 2005 - Boston University
| In a paper featured today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers from Boston University School of Dental Medicine report the discovery of a new gene, STAT6(B), that helps regulate production of the potentially deadly tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) cytokine. |
TNF-alpha is involved in inflammatory disorders such as Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and irritable bowel syndrome. The paper is the first by a dental school researcher to be chosen as a featured article in PNAS. The new gene also regulates vascular endothelial growth factor, which is responsible for new blood vessels. Blocking excess amounts of VEGF has already led to the cancer therapeutic Avastin; STAT6(B) works through a different mechanism and thus will offer new opportunities for treating cancer. The researchers are publishing this finding in a separate paper. STAT6(B), which is similar to the previously known STAT6 gene, works closely with a gene known as LITAF, discovered by the same Boston University researchers in 1999. The STAT6(B) and LITAF proteins (which are coded for by their respective genes) bind to form a complex that moves into the cell’s nucleus to regulate the transcription of cytokines. The recent Boston University findings will offer new ways to regulate TNF-alpha, whose overexpression causes inflammatory and immunological problems. Drugs regulating TNF-alpha such as Remicade, Embrel, and Humira are a multibillion dollar market. “Because STAT6(B) and LITAF affect TNF-alpha through a different pathway, we expect to develop more efficient therapeutics to help people with rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and inflammatory bowel syndrome,” says Boston University School of Dental Medicine Professor Salomon Amar, the leading author of the paper. The Boston University researchers are now working on animal models to control LITAF and thus TNF-alpha overproduction in inflammatory syndromes. The paper, “LPS induces the interaction of a transcription factor, LPS-induced TNF-{alpha} factor, and STAT6(B) with effects on multiple cytokines,” by Xiaoren Tang, Deborah Levy Marciano, Susan E. Leeman, and Salomon Amar, may be found at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0501159102v1?etoc
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Boston University has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in research in a wide range of disciplines and a demonstrated commitment to fostering innovative interdisciplinary research. The Office of the Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Education supports the University in facilitating research at the both the student and faculty levels.Our mission is to enhance and encourage research at Boston University and to provide a climate conducive to maintaining the University at the cutting edge of research and scholarly activities. We work with the Boston University community to plan and coordinate interdisciplinary research and represent the University in research matters related to Inter-University consortia. To encourage new, innovative, and cross-disciplinary efforts, this office administers the Special Program for Research Initiation Grants (SPRInG). We showcase graduate research at Science & Technology Day. This annual event features nearly 200 research posters by graduate students from both the Medical and Charles River Campuses working in a wide range of disciplines. Our annual research magazine, Research at Boston University, informs a wide audience about a selection of our significant research findings and ongoing studies at Boston University. We also maintain a strong presence on the web through this site and through the Science Coalition’s website, which brings our research successes to the attention of Congress and other policy makers in the federal government. To assist Boston University researchers, this office oversees the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and coordinates with the Office of Sponsored Programs on the Charles River Campus , the research administration on the Medical Campus, the Office of Research Compliance, and the various graduate programs. For the development of commercially viable ideas, we administer the Provost's Innovation Fund and work closely with the Office of Technology Transfer. We also coordinate proposals where there are institutional limits to the number of proposals that may be submitted, cost sharing requirements, significant laboratory renovations, or other special circumstances. This office assists departments and centers to achieve a diverse faculty and graduate student body through our membership and activities with the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and through our affiliation with the Clare Boothe Luce program of the Henry Luce Foundation. |
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