UV Light May Lead Way to New Treatment for MS and Inflammation

Patricia Silva, PhD avatar

by Patricia Silva, PhD |

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Researchers have foundĀ a way to harness inflammation with the help of ultraviolet (UV) light, making it possible to design an anti-inflammatory treatment that is more specific and causes fewer side effects.

If this approach canĀ be developed forĀ clinical treatment, itĀ likely will have a large impact on the lives of people with multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory conditions.

The study, ā€œChemical optogenetic modulation of inflammation and immunity,ā€ was published in the journal Chemical Science.

HDACs (histone deacetylases) are molecules driving inflammation and controlling a range of other processes. Drugs that block HDACs are being investigated in conditions that include neurodegeneration and cancer, but their role in inflammation is onlyĀ beginning to beĀ explored.

Since HDACs exist in tissues throughout the body, a blocker often interrupts other enzyme actions than the one intended, resulting in unwantedĀ side effects. To get around the problem, researchers at Cornell University designed a molecule that can activate a HDAC blocker using UV light.

ā€œCurrently, there arenā€™t a lot of tools that are able to manipulate the immune system in a spatio-temporal fashion,ā€ Pamela Chang, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology, and the studyā€™s senior author, said in a news release.

The team used an existing blocker and covered the part of the drug that interacts with HDAC with an additional molecule. This addition is set lose when the compound is exposed to UV light, allowing the drug to block HDAC.

ā€œIf you turned off all the HDACs in the body, you would probably be hitting a lot of pathways that you didnā€™t want to turn off,ā€ said Chang.Ā ā€œWe can control when and where we turn off the HDACs using light. The idea is that you can actually target the tissue that has chronic inflammation and regulate it by selectively inhibiting HDACs in the tissue thatā€™s affected.ā€

In this way, the side effects of a treatment can be minimized.

So far, researchers tested the new compound in lab-grown cells, where UV-triggered drug actions reduced the levels of inflammatory molecules. The team also showed that the compound didĀ not harm the cells.

ā€œWe are pushing the forefront of developing new technologies to control inflammation and the immune system, with the ultimate goal of being able to study these biological pathways and perhaps develop therapies for inflammatory diseases,ā€ Chang concluded.