Description:
Reference #: 1673
The University of South Carolina is offering licensing opportunities for Nepenthes prolyl endopeptidases to suppress gluten sensitivity in humans.
Background:
It is currently estimated that 5% of the world's population suffers from gluten-related disorders, though this number is considered a gross underestimate due to the difficulties of accurately diagnosing such patients. Additionally, the incidence of gluten-related disorders is increasing, and will continue to do so, due to the increasing reliance on grains to sustain the world’s population. The gold-standard of treatment for gluten-related disorders is strict adherence to a gluten free diet which is costly to consumers, extremely difficult to adhere to, and is socially stigmatized. Therefore, we believe there is a huge potential untapped market for innovative therapeutic interventions that may allow sensitive people to consume gluten without inflammatory consequences.
Invention Description:
Old-world pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes are carnivorous plants that consume insects through digestion of prey in specialized leaf traps (pitchers) that contain a cocktail of plant digestive enzymes. Some of these enzymes may be capable of degrading dietary gluten thereby making it unavailable for use as a food for pathogenic bacteria in the gut that can cause inflammatory disease by way of gluten consumption. This innovation is the use of Nepenthes-derived digestive enzymes as an oral treatment to degrade dietary gluten in order to starve gluten-utilizing pathogenic bacteria, reducing the effect of gluten-related disorders.
Potential Applications:
The innovation described here will be used to develop an oral prophylactic solution that blocks inflammation caused by the ingestion of dietary gluten, thereby providing an easy and readily available method of reducing harmful effects of gluten consumption without restricting dietary options of consumers.
Advantages and Benefits:
The use of Nepenthes prolyl endopeptidases to effectively starve gluten-metabolizing pathogenic bacteria would represent a scale-able and easy to use pre- or post-meal remedy for inflammatory responses caused by ingestion of dietary gluten, providing a cheaper, easier, and more available alternative than a gluten-free diet.