Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
A New Tick Spit Protein is a Potent Immunomodulator
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1028 A new Tick Spit Protein is a Potent Immunomodulator
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr Norbert Herzog.
And I’m Dr. David Niesel
Behind mosquitos, ticks pose the greatest health risk to us among all creepy crawlies and animals. They can transmit microbes that cause serious diseases such as Lyme disease and babesiosis, an infection of red blood cells.
Ticks pass on pathogens when they latch onto our skin using their mouths to feed on our blood. Proteins in their saliva immobilize our immune response, and scientists have been studying this mechanism for ways to manipulate it to our benefit.
A new study reports they’ve found a new class of immune suppressants in tick saliva that could be useful in fighting human diseases such as cancers and arthritis.
Tick saliva contains proteins that bind to chemokines, which are a part of our immune system that guides white blood cells to infections and inflamed sites.
One class of these tick proteins are evasins. They block our inflammatory response such as itching, burning or pain when a tick is latching on, so that it can feed on us without us noticing.
The study identified a class A-three tick evasin, the EVA-ATL-one-0-one that binds to two families of chemokines. Once that happens, these chemokines can’t signal.
If we can control this mechanism, therapies can be created to treat a whole range of inflammatory diseases. We’ve mentioned cancer and arthritis but it’s any condition where both families of chemokines become overactive.
The potential for us to turn the table on ticks is exciting and shows the power of science to make breakthroughs possible.
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.com or listen to our podcast on your favorite podcast service.
