Discovery Reveals Way to Stop Inflammation in Alzheimer's, Arthritis, More

Researchers at the University of Virginia (UVA) have made a discovery about the immune system that could let doctors treat harmful inflammation that damages the brain in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, reports ScienceDaily . The discovery also might allow doctors to save people from the potentially deadly inflammation of sepsis. "A lot of the drugs we use right now to treat inflammation, known as biologicals, don't work in the brain because they can't get through the blood-brain barrier," notes UVA's Bimal Desai. His team has identified an ion channel within macrophages that governs the flow of calcium into cells. By targeting this ion channel with tiny molecules, researchers could deny the macrophages calcium and prevent inflammation, even in the brain. "Small molecules are perhaps more affordable as treatments and can hit things like this ion channel switch, TRPM7," says UVA's Michael Schappe. "We could use that to address inflammation in a bunch of contexts, but particularly in instances like neuroinflammation, where current treatments are particularly ineffective." Desai points out that drugmakers are currently developing medications that could target this type of channel. "Having identified an ion channel ... allows you to use small molecules, which are ridiculously cheap compared to biologicals and can be taken orally," he says.