Researchers at the University of Oxford have discovered a series of new peptide molecules that have potential as treatments of inflammatory disorders, including endotoxic shock, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, uveitis and atherosclerosis.

The peptides work by reducing the production of inflammatory cytokines, signaling proteins which play an important role in the body's response to infection and injury, but are also implicated in excessive immune responses in inflammatory diseases.

Dr David Greaves, at the University of Oxford's Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, said his group's work could provide a new approach to developing treatments for chronic inflammation:

"All the drugs that we currently have for treating inflammation target pro-inflammatory molecules, and all have side-effects, essentially they're dampening down pro-inflammatory signals, not controlling the underlying inflammation.

"Our approach taps into the body's naturally occurring anti-inflammatory mechanism."

The peptides work by inhibiting activated macrophages via the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), ChemR23 - substantially reducing the production of inflammatory cytokines TNFα, MCP-1, IL-6 and IL-1β.

In addition, the same peptides dramatically enhance clearance of pathogens, potentially speeding up the body's ability to recover from inflammation. This might be important for treatment of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and Alzheimer's disease.

The Greaves lab has established that the peptides exhibit potent anti-inflammatory activity in pre-clinical models of inflammation.

"The attraction of these peptides is that they're active at very low concentrations (picomolar), and they have a great deal of promise for use as new therapeutic drugs," said Greaves.

The work recently formed the basis of a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (Cash et al, 2008).

This work is the subject of a patent application, and Isis would like to talk to companies interested in developing the peptides as new therapeutics.

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