{"id":53873,"date":"2022-12-20T10:32:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T23:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hudsonorgau.wpengine.com\/?post_type=hdsn_news_post&#038;p=53873"},"modified":"2025-09-15T11:24:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T01:24:37","slug":"two-new-proteins-identified-as-keys-to-intestinal-health","status":"publish","type":"hdsn_news_post","link":"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/news\/two-new-proteins-identified-as-keys-to-intestinal-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Two new proteins identified as keys to intestinal health"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Two new candidates have been identified as crucial factors in maintaining good intestinal health.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\r\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-53872\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DrDanxiZhu-DrMariusDannappel-Intestinal-Health-News-Story.jpg\" alt=\"Dr Danxi Zhu and Dr Marius Dannappel's discovery has identified crucial proteins in maintaining good intestinal health.\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DrDanxiZhu-DrMariusDannappel-Intestinal-Health-News-Story.jpg 600w, https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DrDanxiZhu-DrMariusDannappel-Intestinal-Health-News-Story-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DrDanxiZhu-DrMariusDannappel-Intestinal-Health-News-Story-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DrDanxiZhu-DrMariusDannappel-Intestinal-Health-News-Story-320x320.jpg 320w, https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DrDanxiZhu-DrMariusDannappel-Intestinal-Health-News-Story-400x400.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>\r\n<figcaption><em>L\u2013R: Dr Danxi Zhu, Dr Marius Dannappel<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>An international team led by Hudson Institute of Medical Research investigating so-called Mediator kinases \u2013 regulators of gene expression &#8211; discovered that they play a bigger than expected role in maintaining a proper balance of the different cell populations that make up the intestinal lining.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In a study, published in the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/36006697\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI)<\/a><\/em>, with wide-ranging implications for inflammatory conditions affecting the intestine, the team found that Mediator kinases also interact with another group of proteins which have been linked to many diseases and cancers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-intestinal-health-requires-a-balance-of-cell-types\"><strong>Intestinal health requires a balance of cell types<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Post-doctoral researcher Dr Danxi Zhu said this project has potential implications for a number of gastrointestinal disorders including <a href=\"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/disease\/cancer\/bowel-cancer\/\">bowel cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s big news by itself, however we also believe it provides the foundation for further investigations into disease relevance and potential suitability for the development of new treatments,\u201d Dr Zhu said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\r\n<p>\u201cWe discovered that Mediator kinases play a pivotal role to orchestrate the production of the cells lining the intestinal lumen, particularly for specialised cell types (Paneth cells, tuft cells and goblet cells) responsible for organising the defence against infection.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>\u201cMalfunction of these cell types has been linked to increased susceptibility to bacterial and parasitic infections and inflammatory conditions such as <a href=\"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/disease\/inflammation\/inflammatory-bowel-disease\/\">Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)<\/a>.\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"reading-intestinal-health-like-a-book\"><strong>Reading intestinal health like a book<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/researcher-profile\/marius-dannappel\/\">Dr Marius Dannappel<\/a> explained the workings of the Mediator kinases: \u201cIf the genetic code (DNA) is a book, the Mediator complex is one of the components that determines which parts of the book are read and read correctly.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>\u201cThat means we\u2019ve changed the previous view of Mediator kinases as purely regulators of gene expression and significantly broadened the scope of their functions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"potential-in-cancer-and-beyond\"><strong>Potential in cancer and beyond <\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\r\n<p>\u201cThe aim for follow-up studies will be to assess whether Mediator kinases could be targeted therapeutically to treat inflammatory conditions affecting the intestine including cancer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Collaborators | <\/strong>Professor Thomas G Boyer, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas, USA; Pouya Faridi, Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University; Professor Roger J Daly, Cancer Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Funders | <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhmrc.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NHRMC<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dfg.de\/en\/research_funding\/programmes\/individual\/walter_benjamin\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DFG (German Research Foundation)<\/a>; China Scholarship Council<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\n            <div class=\"inline-block-disease-snackbar bg-blue-100 border-b-4 border-pink-500 my-5 sm:my-8\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/disease\/cancer\/bowel-cancer\/\" class=\"block text-blue-700 hover:text-pink-500 text-xl xl:text-2xl font-bold p-4 sm:p-6\"><span class=\"inline\">Learn more about Bowel cancer<\/span>\n                    <svg class=\"inline ml-1 h-4 sm:h-5 align-center text-pink-500 fill-current\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"15 0 24 34.78\">\n                        <polygon points=\"19.17 34.78 16.27 31.66 31.63 17.39 16.27 3.11 19.17 0 37.87 17.39 19.17 34.78\"><\/polygon>\n                    <\/svg>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/div>\n        \r\n\r\n\n            <div class=\"inline-block-disease-snackbar bg-blue-100 border-b-4 border-pink-500 my-5 sm:my-8\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/disease\/inflammation\/inflammatory-bowel-disease\/\" class=\"block text-blue-700 hover:text-pink-500 text-xl xl:text-2xl font-bold p-4 sm:p-6\"><span class=\"inline\">Learn more about Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)<\/span>\n                    <svg class=\"inline ml-1 h-4 sm:h-5 align-center text-pink-500 fill-current\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"15 0 24 34.78\">\n                        <polygon points=\"19.17 34.78 16.27 31.66 31.63 17.39 16.27 3.11 19.17 0 37.87 17.39 19.17 34.78\"><\/polygon>\n                    <\/svg>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/div>\n        \r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two new candidates have been identified as crucial factors in maintaining good intestinal health.&hellip;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/news\/two-new-proteins-identified-as-keys-to-intestinal-health\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":53872,"menu_order":0,"template":"","issue":[],"tag":[],"story-type":[85],"treatment-type":[],"class_list":["post-53873","hdsn_news_post","type-hdsn_news_post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","story-type-discovery"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Discovery identifies key intestinal health proteins | Hudson Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Intestinal health discovery has implications for a number of inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders including bowel cancer and IBD.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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