In a new study, researchers have found a potential new target to treat inflammatory disease.
The research was led by the University of Birmingham and elsewhere.
The researchers are experts in cellular metabolism—the set of chemical reactions or ‘metabolic pathways’ that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life.
This study focused on the role of lactate in how the body’s immune system responds to inflammation.
Lactate is a molecule produced by most tissues in the human body, with the highest production found in muscle, and levels of lactate in the blood are regulated by the kidney.
A high lactate level in the blood means that a disease or condition is causing lactate to accumulate.
In general, a greater increase in lactate means a greater severity of the condition, and lactate levels are used by hospital medics as a critical way to monitor the health and likely recovery of patients in intensive care.
According to the team, the recent discovery of the fundamental role of metabolism in immune cell biology is contributing immensely to scientists’ understanding of immune cell regulation.
So far, most studies have focused on the role of metabolic pathways in the establishment of the immune response.
Lactate has mainly been seen as a by-product of metabolism or as a biomarker in critical care at best, rather than a bioactive molecule, and its functional effects have thus been neglected for a long time.
In this study, the researchers analyzed the response of immune cells to lactate in chronic inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis.
In their research, which involved the use of mice, they also used blood from healthy patients and patients with arthritis, as well as joint biopsies, and tonsils removed following tonsillectomies due to the fact that inflamed tonsils share similarities with an inflamed joint.
They identified the pathway initiated by lactate build-up in inflamed tissue that exacerbates the inflammatory response.
They also now can provide evidence that molecules made by immune cells to transport sodium lactate—the sodium salt of lactic acid—could be a target for treatment to stop this lactate build-up in chronic inflammatory disorders.
One author of the study is Dr. Valentina Pucino, of the University of Birmingham.
The study is published in Cell Metabolism.
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