RESEARCHING WITH MODEL SYSTEMS
Of jellyfish, mice and men
When a laboratory rodent is KO'd you cannot immediately tell by looking at it. That's because in this case the knock-out is done with surgical precision instead of being the result of a malicious attack. One of the mouse's genes has been specifically switched off. A "scientific knock-out" to observe exactly what happens when the organism's molecular signaling pathway is modified.
Finely adjusted model systems make it possible to understand exactly what effects minimal genetic peculiarities have on the immune system's operation. For example each of the arrangements in the hereditary material that are identified as suspicious in Crohn's disease in human patients is genuinely replicated in the experimental animal. Soon the mouse with the re-engineered genetic factors also shows the symptoms of intestinal tract inflammation: diarrhea and blood in the feces, and it loses weight. Targeted modification of their individual hereditary information - taboo in humans - enables precise identification of which molecules in which form are involved in the inflammatory process: This is a basic precondition for the development of innovative therapies and active ingredients to alleviate the patients' suffering.
Picture gallery model systems (7 images)
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Medicine from the sea
Furthermore, the focus of inflammation research is on sea creatures: polyps, jellyfish, and mussels. To survive in the adverse conditions of their damp environment, these very ancient organisms have over millions of years developed specific mechanisms to defend themselves against bacteria and germs - which demonstrably protect them from inflammation. Learning from these functional defense mechanisms, constantly undergoing evolutionary optimization, opens up a future prospect in the development of anti-inflammatory active ingredients or therapies for humans.
Technical literature for further reading: