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class="block-content"> <div class="uq-core-image large right horizontal"><div class="image-crop"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.uq.edu.au/news/filething/get-styled/large/333021/IMB oxytocin abdonimal pain Adobe 620W.jpg?itok=us8kOrV0" alt="an older woman sits on a sofa clutching her stomach" title="Image: Adobe. " /></div><div class="caption">Image: Adobe. </div></div><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2024-11-18T06:00:00+10:00">18 November 2024</span><div class="field field-name-field-core-body"><p style="text-align:justify; margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">University of Queensland researchers have developed a new class of oral painkillers to suppress chronic abdominal pain that is based on the peptide hormone oxytocin that drives childbirth contractions.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><a href="https://about.uq.edu.au/experts/12444" style="color:#467886; text-decoration:underline"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Associate Professor Markus Muttenthaler</span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"> from UQ’s </span><a href="https://imb.uq.edu.au/" style="color:#467886; text-decoration:underline"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Institute for Molecular Bioscience</span></a> <span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">led a team that has changed the chemical structure of oxytocin to make it gut-stable after earlier work revealed the hormone could treat abdominal pain. </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Dr Muttenthaler said there was an urgent need for new treatments for the chronic pain caused by gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and irritable bowel diseases (IBD).</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“This pain affects up to 15 per cent of adults in their lifetime, and all we have are anti-inflammatories and opioids which can cause side effects and addiction,” Dr Muttenthaler said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“Our research focuses on peptides that are highly potent and selective molecules and have few side effects. However, nearly all peptide drugs must be injected as they are rapidly digested in the gut.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“We have now developed a way of making peptides gut-stable so they can be given orally.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“This is a new and highly promising approach to treating gut disorders.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Oxytocin is a peptide hormone produced in the brain which is known as the ‘bonding hormone’ or the ‘love molecule’ due to its effects on relationship building, empathy and trust.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Oxytocin is also the key hormone that induces uterine contractions during labour and facilitates milk release during breastfeeding.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“We identified the parts of oxytocin that are rapidly broken down by gut enzymes and used medicinal chemistry to render them gut-stable while ensuring that the new molecule was still able to activate the oxytocin receptor,” Dr Muttenthaler said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“We now have a new class of molecules that are potently active but do not degrade in the stomach or intestine, meaning they can be taken orally.” </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The research indicates that the new molecules work in the colon and do not need to cross the gut barrier into the bloodstream to suppress abdominal pain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“This is a very safe therapeutic approach as it reduces the risk of side effects in the rest of the body, a problem with many other systemic drugs,” Dr Muttenthaler said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“This is an exciting new mode of action to prevent pain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“We are currently looking for investors to accelerate pre-clinical studies, with the goal of taking it into the clinic.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">“Now that we have perfected making peptides stable, we are looking at other gut drugs to improve treatment options for gastrointestinal disorders, an unmet medical need.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The </span><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202415333" style="color:#467886; text-decoration:underline"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">research</span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"> is published in <i>Angewandte Chemie</i>.</span></span></span></span></p> <h2 style="margin-bottom: 11px;">Media contact</h2> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">IMB Communications<br /> <a href="mailto:communications@imb.uq.edu.au" style="color:#467886; text-decoration:underline">communications@imb.uq.edu.au</a><br /> +61 457 576 843</span></span></span></p> </div><div class="field field-name-uq-share-block field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="share-tools row"> <div class="short-url six columns"> <label>Share link:</label> <input type="text" name="shortURL" value="https://tinyurl.com/2cgttflz"> </div> <div class="share-buttons six columns"> <ul data-author="The University of Queensland" data-title="New oral drug to calm abdominal pain " data-on="none"> <li class="email"> <a title="Email" class="share email" href="mailto:?subject=New oral drug to calm abdominal pain %20-%20The University of Queensland&body=https://tinyurl.com/2cgttflz%0D%0AUQ researchers have developed a new class of oral painkillers to suppress chronic abdominal pain based on the peptide hormone oxytocin that drives childbirth contractions.%0A%0A"><span>Email</span><i class="icon-mail"></i></a> </li> <li class="twitter"> <a title="Tweet" class="share twitter" href="https://twitter.com/share?text=New oral drug to calm abdominal pain &url=https://tinyurl.com/2cgttflz&via=uq_news" target="_blank"><i class="icon-twitter"></i><span>Share on Twitter</span></a> </li> <li class="facebook"> <a title="Share on Facebook" target="_blank" class="share facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://tinyurl.com/2cgttflz&p[title]=New oral drug to calm abdominal pain &display=popup"><i class="icon-facebook"></i><span>Share on Facebook</span></a> </li> <li class="googleplus"> <a title="Share on Google+" class="share googleplus" href="https://plusone.google.com/_/+1/confirm?hl=en&url=https://tinyurl.com/2cgttflz"><span>Google Plus</span><i class="icon-gplus"></i></a> </li> </ul> </div> <div id="newsletter-form" class="twelve columns"> <form method="post" action="http://www.uq.edu.au/cgi-bin/mail-form.pl?communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au"> <label>Subscribe to the UQ News weekly newsletter</label> <input type="hidden" value="Subscribe to UQ News Newsletter" name="subject"> <input type="text" size="16" name="Email" class="six"> <button type="submit" class="button">Subscribe</button> </form> </div> </div> <hr /> <style> .share-tools { border-top:1px dotted #CECECE; 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