ID :
48375
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 07:56
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/48375
The shortlink copeid
Scientists discover cause behind fatal blood poisoning
SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean scientists on Monday said they have discovered the molecular mechanism for sepsis bacterial infection, commonly called blood poisoning, the cause of countless deaths worldwide each year.
The discovery, published in the latest on-line issue of the magazine Nature, is
noteworthy for its deciphering of the "complete picture" of the bonded Mouse
Toll-like receptor 4-MD-2 (TLR4-MD-2) and Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), the Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said.
Both the TLR4-MD-2 and LPS play key roles in stimulating the human immune system
to fight bacterial infections, but can also bring about deadly septic shock.
Blood poisoning is caused by the spread of bacteria in the blood that triggers
the body's natural immune system to fight off the infection. In healthy adults,
the immune system destroys bacterial growth, though in young children, the
elderly and immunocompromised individuals, the body's defenses sometimes
"overreact" and lead to complications of the liver, heart, lungs and kidney,
causing septic shock, which carries a fatality rate of 50-60 percent.
"Despite the fact that blood poisoning is one of the top ten killers in such
countries as the United States, no clear picture existed on the mechanism
involved, which can only be screened at the molecular level," Lee Jie-ho, the
head of the KAIST research team, said.
Lee, a professor of chemical science, claimed that understanding how the
TLR4-MD-2 bonds with LPS can help scientists develop more effective drugs to
treat the disease that claims about 100,000 lives in the U.S. annually.
The discovery is a follow-up to Lee's work published in Cell magazine in
September 2007, which found a possible countermeasure mechanism to deal with
sepsis infection.
"The earlier research elaborated on possible approaches to dealing with blood
poisoning, while the latest work helped substantiate the original findings," he
said.
Research that went into the breakthrough discovery took three years, with the
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Science and
Engineering Foundation providing 700 million won (US$456,900) in funds starting
in 2008.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)
The discovery, published in the latest on-line issue of the magazine Nature, is
noteworthy for its deciphering of the "complete picture" of the bonded Mouse
Toll-like receptor 4-MD-2 (TLR4-MD-2) and Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), the Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said.
Both the TLR4-MD-2 and LPS play key roles in stimulating the human immune system
to fight bacterial infections, but can also bring about deadly septic shock.
Blood poisoning is caused by the spread of bacteria in the blood that triggers
the body's natural immune system to fight off the infection. In healthy adults,
the immune system destroys bacterial growth, though in young children, the
elderly and immunocompromised individuals, the body's defenses sometimes
"overreact" and lead to complications of the liver, heart, lungs and kidney,
causing septic shock, which carries a fatality rate of 50-60 percent.
"Despite the fact that blood poisoning is one of the top ten killers in such
countries as the United States, no clear picture existed on the mechanism
involved, which can only be screened at the molecular level," Lee Jie-ho, the
head of the KAIST research team, said.
Lee, a professor of chemical science, claimed that understanding how the
TLR4-MD-2 bonds with LPS can help scientists develop more effective drugs to
treat the disease that claims about 100,000 lives in the U.S. annually.
The discovery is a follow-up to Lee's work published in Cell magazine in
September 2007, which found a possible countermeasure mechanism to deal with
sepsis infection.
"The earlier research elaborated on possible approaches to dealing with blood
poisoning, while the latest work helped substantiate the original findings," he
said.
Research that went into the breakthrough discovery took three years, with the
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Science and
Engineering Foundation providing 700 million won (US$456,900) in funds starting
in 2008.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)
