E-Mail
Flinders University researchers have discovered a new anti-inflammatory role for well-known blood clot protein fibrinogen, which could support targeted new treatments for kidney, heart and other common diseases.
The study in
Redox Biology describes how fibrinogen can be protective against hypochlorite - a chemical generated by the body during inflammation - and so act as a kind of antioxidant in blood plasma.
"Our team found that fibrinogen, which forms extraordinarily large assemblies when it reacts with hypochlorite, doesn't harm cells in the same way as hypochlorite-modified albumin which exacerbates kidney and heart disease, and many other serious health conditions," says research leader Dr Amy Wyatt, from the Flinders College of Medicine and Public Health.