Deleting a specific gene in mice alleviates arthritis symptoms and could be used to formulate a cure in humans, researchers have found.
Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine found that deleting a gene called ELMO1 in mice reduced inflammation in acute and chronic arthritis models.1
This was particularly surprising because the researchers had hypothesised that deleting the gene would worsen inflammatory arthritis because it promotes cytoskeletal reorganisation during engulfment.
Studies revealed that ELMO1 works with receptors that are linked to neutrophil function in arthritis.
Reference
- Arandjelovic S et al. A noncanonical role for the engulfment gene ELMO1 in neutrophils that promotes inflammatory arthritis. Nat Immunol2019;20(2):141 DOI: 10.1038/s41590-018-0293-x
