New Danish technology helps the body break down disease-causing proteins itself

When we develop conditions such as arthritis or neurological disorders, it is most often due to specific proteins in the body no longer behaving as they should. Some shrivel and become what might be described as “waste proteins”, while others turn against our bodies, causing inflammation or attacking the body’s own cells.

But now a Danish research collaboration has developed a technology that might revolutionise the way certain diseases are treated. The research team has succeeded in enabling the body to selectively break down an entirely new group of harmful proteins, explains Associate Professor Simon Glerup from the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University and co-founder of the biotech company Draupnir Bio.

“We have managed to ‘tag’ the harmful proteins so that the body itself recognises them, captures them, and transports them into cells, where they are broken down by the cell’s waste disposal system called the lysosomes,” he says.

It has previously been possible to induce the body to break down proteins already located inside cells, but what is new is that researchers have now also succeeded in targeting proteins located outside cells in the body, Simon Glerup explains:

“This opens up entirely new possibilities in drug development that we did not have before, because this method gives us access to a large group of proteins that we have previously been unable to target effectively with medicine.”

Could be a game changer for millions of people with chronic illnesses

Up to 40 per cent of the body’s proteins are found outside cells or on cell surfaces. Many of these play a role in whether we develop diseases, yet until now it has been very difficult to target this particular group of proteins with treatment.

With this new technology, which enables the body itself to transport these proteins into cells where they can be broken down, millions of people worldwide could potentially look forward to new and improved treatment options.

“In Denmark alone, more than 700,000 people are affected by arthritis, an inflammatory condition partly caused by disease-related proteins. They could potentially look forward to new—and hopefully more effective—treatment options if and when we develop medicines that use our new technology,” explains Simon Glerup. However, it is not only arthritis patients who may benefit, he continues:

“It could also apply to autoimmune diseases, where the body’s cells and proteins attack the body itself, as well as neurological conditions such as dementia or multiple sclerosis. In time, these conditions may gain new treatment options and lead to the development of new medicines. These are diseases that are currently very difficult to treat, partly because we have not been able to eliminate these proteins outside the cells in a rational and effective way.”

It will, however, take some time before new medicines are available in pharmacies. Simon Glerup and the rest of the research team will now continue working to optimise the technology for clinical use and subsequently develop potential drug candidates—a process that can take time, he notes.

“It takes several years to develop and approve new medications, but with this method we have taken a significant step closer to new treatments,” he says.

About the research:

Study type / method
• Basic research in chemical biology and drug development
• A combination of medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, biochemistry, cell models, and animal studies

The results build on previous research into targeted protein degradation (TPD) of intracellular proteins (PROTACs) and extracellular proteins (LYTACs), but represent a significant step forward.

Previous methods for extracellular degradation have primarily been based on large biological molecules (such as antibodies), whereas this study introduces an approach using small molecules, which is more flexible and potentially better suited to drug development.
Partners
• Draupnir Bio
• Aarhus University
• International partners (including the UK and France)
External funding
• Novo Nordisk Foundation
• Innovation Fund Denmark
• Draupnir Bio
Conflicts of interest
Several authors are employed by Draupnir Bio and are co-inventors on patent applications related to the technology.
Peer review
The study has been peer-reviewed and published in Cell Chemical Biology.
Read more in the scientific paper:
https://www.cell.com/cell-chemical-biology/abstract/S2451-9456(26)00072-3

Contact

Associate Professor Simon Glerup
Department of Biomedicine, Health, Aarhus University
Mail:glerup@biomed.au.dk
Phone:+4551221727