Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland uncovered a way to stop immune cell death linked to sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis.
The researchers' findings, published in Science Immunology, identify a chemical that restricts inflammatory cell death. In response to extreme inflammation, cells perforate their own membranes. The chemical stops these deadly holes from forming inside cell membranes in human cells and animal models — a new way to stop this destructive process.
In this study, mice treated with the chemical necrosulfonamide survived longer than untreated mice after they were exposed to bacterial proteins that cause inflammation. The findings suggest the chemical alleviates harmful inflammation linked to bacterial sepsis.
"We found necrosulfonamide is effective in our sepsis models and could be effective to treat diseases worsened by inflammation," said Derek Abbott, MD, PhD, whose lab performed the work.