Researchers have discovered new ways to treat inflammatory bowel disease with lipid nanoparticles

According to a new study by researchers at Georgia State University's Institute of Biomedical Sciences, lipid nanoparticles targeted by the colon are a new therapeutic strategy

The researchers investigated whether oral interleukin-22 (IL-22) MRNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles into the colon could be a new and effective treatment for ulcerative colitis

Their findings, published in the journal Biomaterials, reported an accelerated

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a general term for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is a recurrent and chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract that affects more than 3 million adults in the

IL-22 is a protein that regulates the stability of cells on the surface of the body and promotes wound healing during intestinal inflammation, acts protectively against pro-inflammatory mediators, and is closely related

Previous studies have found that injecting LIPid and IL-22 complementary DNA complexes is a potentially powerful strategy for treating colitis in animals, but this requires surgery and specific injection techniques

In the study, the researchers used three major lipids found in ginger-derived nanoparticles used in previous studies to design new lipid nanoparticles: phosphatidic acid (PA), monogalacturonic acid diaclyceride (MGDG), and bis-galactolic acid diacryl glycerol (DGDG

"Oral administration of IL-22 lipid nanoparticles improves protein expression levels of IL-22 in mouse colon tissue," said Dr.

In addition, the mice's histological index, colonic myeloxerase activity, fecal lipoprotein concentration, and pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNA expression levels

"Our findings suggest that our reverse engineered lipid nanoparticles are an excellent mRNA delivery platform

Co-authors of the study include Junsik Sung (first author, graduate student) and Dr.

The study was funded