Extract

Mark Nicholls speaks to Stuart Cook MBBS MRCP PhD about research on the Interleukin 11 protein which advances the prospect of a new treatment for heart and kidney failure

It has remained something of a mystery for several years, a protein and its full impact apparently remaining unnoticed by cardiologists and researchers. But, now a team from Imperial College London (ICL) and Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) may at last have unlocked some of these hidden facets and discovered the true impact of the interleukin 11 (IL-11) protein.

It was thought that IL-11 was part of the immune system and that it may protect from organ damage, but it has now emerged that IL-11 is a cause of scarring and heart and kidney failure. And through this discovery, Stuart Cook feels the team have taken a step closer to a new treatment for heart and kidney failure.

The findings focus on IL-11 after the team showed that it plays a significant role in the scarring process, which in turn can cause heart, kidney, and liver failure, with work conducted in mice models suggesting that by inhibiting IL-11, heart and kidney fibrosis could be prevented. The interleukins are a group of proteins that handle communication between cells, and regulate cell growth, differentiation, and movement and are particularly important in immune responses, inflammation, and fibrosis.

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