A team of researchers from the Institute of Butantana in Brazil announced this Thursday that they have identified a substance extracted from the venom of a fish species that has anti-inflammatory properties and is effective in treating asthma.
The protein is able to reduce by more than 75% the number of cells that cause inflammation and damage to lung tissue as a result of asthma, according to a scientific organization associated with the state government of São Paulo.
The results of a study on the treatment of asthma with a TnP protein derived from the venom of the clayfin toad fish (Thalassophryne nattereri) were published in an article in the latest issue of the scientific journal Cells.
The protein was described in 2007 by immunologists Carla Lima and Monica López Ferreira, researchers from Butantan, and synthesized in the laboratory of the organization that patented it the same year.
Since then, several of the organization’s research projects have pointed to this particle as a potential candidate for success in the treatment of certain chronic inflammatory diseases.
In the specific case of asthma, the researchers tested a group of asthmatic animals that received this particle, another group that received dexamethasone (a drug used to fight the disease), and a third group that received a placebo.
In animals treated with TnP, in addition to a 75% reduction in the number of cells that cause inflation and lung tissue damage, the substance reduced by 100% the number of eosinophils responsible for inflammation in half of patients with asthma.
The synthesized protein treatment also reduced the hyperplasia of bronchial mucus-producing cells, which doctors say is the key to relieving asthma symptoms.
Unlike traditional asthma treatments, which can cause symptoms such as heart palpitations, agitation, and headache, TnP had no side effects.
This fish, whose venom has been studied by the Butantan Institute since 1996, is venomous and lives on the Atlantic coast between northeast Brazil and northwest Colombia. cause accidents while swimming.
Contact with its spikes causes acute pain, burning, swelling and tissue necrosis.