New tool uses ultraviolet light to control inflammation

A chemical tool to control inflammation that is activated by ultraviolet (UV) light has been developed by a team of experts from Cornell, they report in Chemical Science.

It is hoped that the method may, in the future, prove effective as a targeted therapy for inflammatory diseases, while minimizing side effects to healthy tissues. Meanwhile, it will allow scientists to study inflammation and the immune system.

Inflammation is caused by the immune system as one of the body’s responses to eliminate pathogens and other foreign agents. When inflammation becomes chronic, it can lead to a host of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.

The researchers have created a chemical probe that inhibits a reaction controlled by enzymes called histone deacetylases (HDACs). These enzymes regulate genes that turn on when the immune system is challenged and promote inflammation. HDACs also have inhibitors that suppress the inflammatory response, and the probe specifically activates these inhibitors but only in the presence of UV light.

“If you turned off all the HDACs in the body, you would probably be hitting a lot of pathways that you didn’t want to turn off,” explains Dr Pamela Chang, who is involved in the work. “We can control when and where we turn off the HDACs using light. The idea is that you can actually target the tissue that has chronic inflammation and regulate it by selectively inhibiting HDACs in the tissue that’s affected.

“We are pushing the forefront of developing new technologies to control inflammation and the immune system, with the ultimate goal of being able to study these biological pathways and perhaps develop therapies for inflammatory diseases.”

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