BOZEMAN -- It's hard to think of arthritis as being too much of a good thing. But the underlying cause of gnarled knuckles and crippled knees is too many white blood cells in the inflamed tissues. The same is true of colitis and complications from heart attacks and strokes.
Normally white blood cells are good because they fight bacteria and other body invaders. Sometimes, though, it can be like having too many medics on the battlefield who are carting away the fit as well as the wounded.
But a substance discovered by a scientist at Montana State University-Bozeman is a potential therapy for inflammatory diseases. It blocks the white blood cells' ability to get into the affected tissue and prevents them from going haywire.
"Inflammation is important for tissue regeneration and wound healing," explains Mark Jutila, the MSU-Bozeman veterinary molecular biologist who made the discovery in 1992. "The white blood cells go in and get rid of pathogens. They clean up damaged tissue and help with healing."
Sometimes, though, their mop-up operation isn't necessary, said Jutila. After a heart attack, stroke or anytime the blood supply gets cut off, white blood cells rush to the site after the blood supply is restored. They behave as if the tissue is wounded and start trying to clean it up. The result is the body's own cells causing damage to its own tissues.
Jutila has found a substance that interrupts the process. It's called EL-246, and it's an antibody that blocks the white blood cells from leaving the blood vessels, which they use to cruise throughout the body, and migrating to where the action is.
"White blood cells adhere to the vessel, crawl through it and go to an inflammation site," said Jutila. "They do so using a variety of proteins. This antibody blocks two of these proteins."
Jutila continued his studies on the compound after he discovered it five years ago. Now the university's technology transfer arm, the Research and Development Institute, is looking for a company that might be interested in licensing the invention and shepherding it toward the marketplace.
"There are some [similar] agents in clinical trials but none are being sold," said Jutila. "So this is really cutting edge as far as the market goes."
Companies interested in licensing EL-246 should contact RDI, 1711 W. College, Bozeman, MT 59715, (406) 994-4479 by April 30.
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