Ivan Zanoni and Francesca Granucci, respectively researcher and lecturer of general pathology at the Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences of the University of Milan -Bicocca, in collaboration with Achille Broggi, researcher of the Harvard Medical School at the Boston Children's Hospital, Division of Gastroenterology, published in the journal Nature Immunology the results of the research carried out on inflammatory diseases of the intestine.
At the end of their research they discovered that it is thanks to type III interferons that our immune system is able to limit the inflammatory processes that take place in the intestine and the resulting tissue damage.
Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease are pathologies that develop when the immune system is inappropriately activated against the microbiota (set of microorganisms that live with our body without damaging it) causing inflammation and damage to tissues.
The study, for the first time, showed that class III interferons directly modify the activity of neutrophils, important phagocytes of the immune system which, among their many functions, play a key role in the development of inflammatory bowel diseases. It has in fact been noted that while the absence or blocking of type III interferons leads to an increase in the inflammatory process of the intestine and tissue damage, their presence reduces the production of free radicals by the neutrophils themselves, consequently reducing the tissue damage.
Carried out on animal models and in human cells, the study demonstrated the fundamental role of class III interferons in fighting the development of inflammatory bowel diseases.
According to Zanoni's statement, “The discovery opens up the possible use of type III interferons as potential therapeutic agents to treat inflammatory bowel diseases. These diseases are constantly increasing and in Italy alone they afflict hundreds of thousands of people. In the past, attempts were made to use type I interferons in the clinic, but with little success. Our work has shown instead that those of type III act in a much more selective way and go to reduce the inflammatory activity of specific cells involved in inflammatory bowel diseases. Further research has already begun to confirm the therapeutic properties of these interferons ”. “Our work - adds Granucci - in addition to a possible therapeutic use of type III interferons, opens up important perspectives from the point of view of basic research. We have indeed discovered a unique mechanism by which this class of interferons performs its anti-inflammatory functions. The identification of all the other molecular components required for type III interferons to carry out their activity is a very open research field on which we will invest energy and resources in the coming years ”.