A few years ago, researchers showed that an intestinal bacterium (Faecalibacterium prausnitzii), tended to decrease in the human intestine at the onset of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease Where ulcerative colitis. They had also demonstrated that this bacterium secretes one or more molecules possessing properties making it possible to fight against IBD.
New work by Inra and Inserm has made it possible to identify this molecule, which they have called MAM (Microbial Anti-inflammatory Molecule), which plays an active role in the fight against intestinal inflammation. By studying the effectiveness of the molecule on mice with IBD, they showed that mice protected by the presence of MAM lost less weight than unprotected mice. Researchers have also shown that this MAM protein works by lowering some of the molecules in the immune system in the intestinal lining that cause inflammation.
Scientists now plan to restore the presence of the bacteria in people with IBD. “There are many ways to achieve this: using new food supplements containing the bacteria (probiotics) and / or molecules that promote the development of the bacteria (prebiotics). The discovery and characterization of the MAM protein also now makes it possible to consider its production and possible use as an active molecule by the pharmaceutical industry “, the researchers point out.
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