Scientists in Singapore have developed a new compound that can reduce the overac

According to foreign media reports, when the human body detects a pathogen such as bacteria or virus, it will activate the immune system to fight against the invaders. Some people's immune system can overreact, which can lead to overactive immune system and lead to body injury, which can be fatal in some cases. Now, scientists from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed a compound that can help reduce this over activation without damaging the body's overall immune response.

An overactive immune system can lead to many autoimmune diseases - when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues - such as rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. Recently, it has also been associated with a severe infection with cowid-19, in which the immune system signaling proteins rise to dangerous levels, leading to damage to the body's own cells.
The compound, designed by the research team of Nanyang University of technology, is called aso-1. It targets tyrosine kinase 2 (Tyk2), an enzyme of the JAK family, which plays a key role in regulating human immune response. A recent study led by the University of Edinburgh and published in the leading scientific journal Nature found that high levels of Tyk2 were associated with severe cvid-19.
The team led by Professor Phan Anh Tuan of the school of physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS) of the National University of Singapore pointed out that this shows the potential of aso-1 compounds to form the basis for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
"Human genetic studies have shown that inhibition of Tyk2 activity can provide protection against a range of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, lupus and type 1 diabetes," said Phan, who is also interim director of the Institute of structural biology at NTU
Dr Lim Kah Wai, a senior researcher at NTU and co lead author of the study, added that the UK study linked the high expression of Tyk2 with severe patients with cowid-19, and aso-1 may be a therapeutic drug worthy of further study. To this end, they are planning to carry out further preclinical work to verify its therapeutic potential.
It is understood that many drugs that reduce inflammation caused by overactive immune response target four JAK family proteins: Jak1, JAK2, JAK3 and Tyk2.
Recently, Tyk2 has become the preferred target for researchers. Since the four members are highly similar in structure, it is very important to selectively target Tyk2 to limit side effects.
The aso-1 compound designed by NTU research team is an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO). Aso is an RNA therapy that targets messenger RNA (mRNA), which carries the gene instructions that cells "read" to make proteins. Aso-1 is designed to bind to Tyk2 mRNA, which prevents cells from producing Tyk2 protein.
The team conducted laboratory experiments on human cell culture and found that aso-1 had high potency and selectivity for Tyk2, and had no effect on other JAK proteins. Dr. Lim pointed out that the high efficacy of aso-1 is comparable to that of candidate ASO drugs that have recently entered clinical trials or approved for clinical use.
NTU team found aso-1 from more than 200 potentially effective ASOs.
Now, the team has built an integrated platform covering RNA therapy design, synthesis and cell testing. Tyk2 is one of a series of therapeutic targets for immune and cancer treatment, and it has become the main focus of the team's research.
NTU researchers plan to work with several academic collaborators to test aso-1 on animal models and open industrial collaboration for its clinical application development.