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ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

Neutralizing neutrophils

Genentech finds a neutrophil inflammation pathway

May 25, 2017 4:54 PM UTC

Scientists at the Genentech Inc. unit of Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) uncovered a new role for a known kinase in neutrophil activation and blocked the protein to treat inflammatory diseases. Pathway data suggest targeting the kinase could produce superior anti-inflammatory drugs, but the question is whether the compounds can avoid risking serious infections.

According to principal investigator Ali Zarrin, a senior scientist at Genentech, neutrophils are often neglected because they are hard to work with in mice. "Nobody wants to work with this cell type. You can't get enough cells to do proteomic or functional studies and they're very sensitive," said Zarrin. "They can get activated as you manipulate them so studying pathway activation is tricky." He noted that it took his group a couple of years to build the necessary expertise...