Sugar 'switches medicine on'
Sugar could help the medicine to go down, study finds
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Tuesday, 23, Jan 2007 12:41
Scientists have proved that a spoonful of sugar really can help the medicine go down.
Researchers at the University of Leeds adapted a bacteria in bodies to make it produce a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The altered bacteria is able to produce human growth factors which help repair the layer of cells lining the colon, thus reducing inflammation caused by IBD.
Although bacteria and viruses have been used to deliver drugs in this way, the study found a way of 'switching' the bacteria on and off for the first time by using sugar.
When the patient eats the sugar - known as xylan - the mechanism is triggered and the medicine works, while simply stopping eating the sugar halts the treatment.
Explaining the importance of the discovery, researcher Professor Simon Carding said: "Current bacteria and virus delivery systems produce their drugs non-stop, but for many treatments there is a narrow concentration range at which drugs are beneficial.
"Outside of this, the treatment can be counterproductive and make the condition worse. It's vitally important to be able to control when and how much of the drug is administered and we believe our discovery will provide that control."
He added that the research team is now looking at ways of using the same technique for colorectal cancer as they believe that it may be possible to "modify the bacteria to produce factors that will reduce tumour growth".
"Treatment of diseases elsewhere in the body might also be possible as most things present in the gut can get taken into the blood stream," Professor Carding concluded.