A collaborative project between School of Life Sciences of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences, funded jointly by Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd (DRL), for a project on ‘12-R-Lipoxygenase or 12R-LOX as target for discovery and development of drugs against psoriasis’ has validated it through a series of experiments conducted in the lab and on mammals like mice, it was announced on Tuesday.
The most dominant polyunsaturated fatty acid in mammal is oxygenated by Cyclooxygenase (COX) and Lipoxygenase (LOX) pathways which leads to the formation of compounds ‘eicosanoids’, a type of potent biologically active molecules. Uncontrolled production of these leads to inflammatory diseases like arthritis, psoriasis, coronary heart diseases, allergy, asthma, certain forms of cancer and even Alzheimer’s disease, said a UoH release.
Psoriasis is the accumulation in the skin of 12R-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12R-HETE), a product of 12R-LOX. Studies revealed that 12R-LOX gets over-expressed during Psoriasis. Hence, COX and LOX have become the natural targets for development of drugs for a variety of inflammatory disorders.
The team of researchers from UoH — Prof. P. Reddanna, Dr. Kumar Reddy and Dr. Nooruddin Khan and from Dr. Reddy’s — Harshavardhan Bhuktar, Sharda Shukla and Prof. Manojit Pal have validated 12R-LOX as the target for the development of anti-psoriasis drug. A patent too has been filed for the discovery, added the release.
