Oxygenase exists in various plants, such as cereal seeds, soybeans, peas, and potatoes, with the highest content in soybeans. The presence of lipoxygenase in the food system can cause a decrease in the nutritional quality of the food and increase the difficulty of storage. Because lipoxygenase is still viable at low temperature, green beans and broad beans stored at low temperature should be blanched to inactivate the enzyme, otherwise the quality will be seriously reduced.
Biopharmaceutical company Veralox Therapeutics (Veralox) announced the completion of a $5.4 million seed round of financing. It is reported that Veralox will use this financing to develop 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX enzyme) inhibitors to treat type 1 diabetes (T1D) and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) related to 12-LOX enzyme And its associated symptoms.
HIT is a disease caused by thrombocytopenia due to the use of heparin. Patients generally have platelet levels that gradually return to normal after heparin is stopped. The common companion of the disease is heparin-induced thrombocytopenia with thrombosis (HITT), which usually occurs 5 to 8 days after heparin application.
T1D is a type of diabetes caused by the destruction of human pancreatic beta cells, which leads to a significant decrease in insulin levels. The disease can be seen at any age, but it is more common in adolescents. Patients often present with "three more and one less" symptoms of polyphagia, polydipsia, polyuria and weight loss. At present, T1D cannot be cured, and patients can only rely on insulin for lifelong treatment.
Veralox was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Maryland, United States. It is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. The company mainly develops small molecule drugs for immune-mediated rare blood diseases to meet the medical needs of patients. Veralox is committed to developing first-class therapies, and its main drug candidate VLX-1005 will be used to treat patients with HIT and HITT.
Currently, Veralox's 12-LOX inhibitor is in the development stage, which can help platelet activation and cell stress signaling. The drug prevents the progression of T1D disease by maintaining the normal function of islet β cells in the body. In addition, Veralox is also developing second-generation therapeutic drugs for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases and inflammatory diseases.
Yu-Hua Tseng of Harvard Medical School and his research team revealed that 12-lipoxygenase regulates cold adaptation and glucose metabolism by producing Omega-3 lipid 12-HEPE from brown fat. This result was published in "Cells-Metabolism" published in October 2019.
Because the role of the lipoxygenase products family in cold adaptation is still elusive, the researchers hope to understand whether and how LOX activity is needed for cold adaptation, and to determine that the lipid product produced by LOX can be used as a therapeutic potential Cold simulants fight diabetes.
By using mass spectrometry-based lipidomics in mice and humans, the researchers demonstrated that cold stimulation and β3-adrenaline stimulation can promote the biosynthesis and release of 12-LOX metabolites in brown adipose tissue. In addition, 12-LOX knockout in brown fat cells of mice impairs glucose uptake and metabolism, resulting in a weakened ability to adapt to cold in the body.
The researchers found that the cold-induced 12-LOX product 12-HEPE is a brown adipose factor that improves glucose metabolism by improving insulin-like intracellular signaling pathways, promoting glucose absorption into adipocytes and skeletal muscle.
According to reports, different oxygenases and their lipoprotein products have been shown to participate in thermogenesis by mediating the physiological adaptations required to maintain body temperature.