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SUMO-Wrestling with Thin Air

February 05, 2003

When the flow of blood to an organ or tissue is disrupted, cells become starved of oxygen. The inflammation that occurs as a result of this can be seen in many diseases. Inflammation in the gut is a significant event in Crohn's disease. Understanding how the body responds to oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) is the key to identifying new targets for the treatment of inflammation in these diseases.

Dr. Cormac Taylor, an SFI funded fellow, and his team of researchers in the Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin have demonstrated the role played by a small molecule called SUMO-1 in the process of inflammation in the gut. Their paper, published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), explains the involvement of SUMO-1 as cells attempt to make an "off-switch" to the inflammatory responses caused by hypoxia.

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF ) is involved in causing inflammatory damage to the gut in Crohn's disease. This happens when the protein that usually controls levels of TNF becomes unstable due to hypoxia. Dr. Taylor's group have shown that levels of SUMO-1 increase in cells that are starved of oxygen. These small molecules can bind to the proteins that regulate the amount of (TNF ) present and make them stable again. This has the effect of "switching off" the process of inflammation.

The Science Foundation of Ireland, Wellcome Trust and the National Institutes of Health are funding this research, which is being carried out in collaboration with Dr. Sean Colgan in Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. Dr. Cormac Taylor is a graduate of University College Dublin and worked in the laboratory of Dr. Colgan for five years. He returned to Ireland in 2001 and took up his position in the Conway Institute. In August 2002, Dr. Taylor received a Science Foundation Ireland Fellows Award worth EUR1.5 million over a period of two years.

UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular & Biomedical Research

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