Korean-American Develops New Internal Inflammation Drug

A new drug candidate that can fundamentally cure all internal inflammatory diseases including hepatitis and pneumonia was developed under the leadership of a Korean scientist in the U.S.

Research Professor Cho Dae-woong (37) of microorganisms and immunity at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine announced on July 10 that he developed and injected the "cell-permeable SOCS3 protein" to mice, succeeding not only in the prevention of inflammations in various organs, including the liver, lung and kidney, but also the reduction of death rates from 80 - 100 percent to less than 20 percent.

The results were published on July 10 in the online edition of the internationally-renowned British science magazine "Nature Medicine."

SOCS3 is a sort of protein existing within cells. It blocks the signals from viruses invading the human body so that these viruses could not cause any inflammations.

The research team anticipated that separating SOCS3 from and injecting it back into the cells would effectively prevent the occurrence of inflammations.

SOCS3, however, is a huge molecule, so it cannot enter into cells under a natural status.

"When we attached [to SOCS3] some part of a protein fostering cell growth, they entered into the cells together," explained Professor Cho. "SOCS3 is a `natural` treatment protein created within the human body, so it is much more effective and safer compared to existing drug compounds."

He also added, "SOCS3 is known to block the signal transmission system that leads cancer cells to constantly divide," citing that "the substance [we] developed will also be able to be used as an anti-cancer medicine."

wolfkim@donga.com