New therapeutic strategy to prevent gastrointestinal disease

[Joachim]

Food allergies, celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), diarrhea and other gastrointestinal diseases have something in common: all have been linked to epithelial barrier loss. The gut epithelial barrier—that critical lining of cells in the gut that must allow nutrients into the body while keeping food-borne microbes out—can be compromised during intestinal inflammation and cause disease. While many of the molecular mechanisms that trigger gastrointestinal diseases remain a mystery, previous research has found that one enzyme, known as myosin light chain kinase (MLCK), plays a critical role. However, MLCK is also essential for critical functions in gut epithelia and other cell types. This makes direct inhibition of MLCK impossible, as it would result in many toxic and systemic side effects.

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