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New treatment target: Paneth Cells

Read this today and thought it was interesting:

"Research from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) identifies a promising new target for future drugs to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The study, published in Cell Reports, also indicates that another protein, protein kinase C (PKC) λ/ι, may serve as a biomarker of IBD severity.

"The intestine is protected by specialized cells, called Paneth cells, that secrete antimicrobial peptides," said Jorge Moscat, Ph.D., deputy director and professor in the NCI-designated Cancer Center and senior author of the paper. "We found that maintaining normal numbers of Paneth cells requires PKC λ/ι, and that the amount of PKC λ/ι decreases as IBD gets worse. We also discovered a way to prevent Paneth cell loss -- inhibiting a protein called EZH2, which could be a new therapeutic strategy for IBD."

Here´s the link to the full article. In there is a link to the actual study referenced by the article.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160920130834.htm
 
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