Due to stress, modern people often suffer from chronic intestinal inflammation. Assistant Professor Chiu Yu-Hsin from the School of Biomedical Science at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), along with Dr. Hsieh Hsing-Pang, Director of the Institute of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Research at the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI), formed an interdisciplinary research team in biology and chemistry. They discovered the mechanism of closing ion channels on the surface of intestinal cells and successfully developed a drug that inhibits the release of inflammatory molecules. The research findings were published in the prestigious international journal Advanced Science.
NTHU pointed out that the number of chronic intestinal inflammation patients has been increasing yearly due to modern-day factors such as emotional stress and irregular diet. According to statistics from the National Health Insurance Administration, the prevalence rate of ulcerative colitis in 2022 increased to 19.6 per 100,000 people, and the prevalence rate of Crohn's disease was about 8.3 per 100,000. Patients are often troubled by symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloody stools, and in severe cases, can even suffer from intestinal perforation.
Assistant Professor Chiu Yu-Hsin from NTHU's School of Biomedical Science explained that inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are a type of immune dysregulation. The exact cause is still unclear, and there is no cure. Currently, most clinical treatments rely on anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids, which often lead to recurrence. While new biological agents that suppress immunity have emerged recently, their high treatment costs make them unaffordable for many patients, leading to increased healthcare expenditures.
The research team formed by NTHU and NHRI took a different approach and developed a new small molecule drug that can prevent the ion channels on the surface of intestinal mucosal cells from opening, effectively blocking the release of inflammatory molecules and successfully inhibiting the inflammatory response.
Ten years ago, Chiu collaborated with an Australian research team to develop a drug that could close the PANX1 ion channel. However, the drug at that time had liver toxicity as a side effect. This time, through bilateral cooperation between NTHU and NHRI, Chiu collaborated with Dr. Hsieh Hsing-Pang, an NHRI distinguished researcher specializing in drug chemistry, and Dr. Li Jingqi, a researcher, to successfully modify the molecular structure of the old drug. The new version has better efficacy and solved the liver toxicity problem.
Chiu explained that the key breakthrough of the new drug is that it specifically targets the closure of ion channel proteins without affecting other proteins, making it both effective and safe. She also pointed out that the development of this new drug to close the PANX1 ion channel is like unlocking a new key to control cell inflammation. In the future, they will continue to develop new drugs to treat other inflammatory diseases, which may offer new treatment opportunities for tissue damage and immune-related diseases.
(News source: China Times, January 15, 2025)