Scientists in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) have discovered a new metabolic process in the body that can switch off inflammation.

Inflammatory diseases include heart disease, asthma, arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. The scientists are hoping that their discovery may help to develop new drugs to treat people affected by these conditions.

They have discovered that itaconate, which is a molecule derived from glucose, acts as a powerful off-switch for macrophages.

Macrophages are the cells in the immune system that are at the heart of many inflammatory diseases.

The discovery was made using both human cells and mice as a model organism.

"My lab has been exploring metabolic changes in macrophages for the past six years and we've come across what we think is the most important finding yet.

"It is well known that macrophages cause inflammation, but we have just found that they can be coaxed to make a biochemical called itaconate. This functions as an important brake, or off-switch, on the macrophage, cooling the heat of inflammation in a process never before described," explained professor of biochemistry at TCD, Prof Luke O'Neill.

He said that this work is on the ‘frontier of inflammation research', and the scientists are now looking at its relevance in relation to the onset and development of inflammatory and infectious diseases.

They also want to investigate whether these findings can be used to develop new anti-inflammatory medicines.

"This discovery and the new research pathways it has opened up will keep us busy for some time, but we are hopeful that it will one day make a difference to patients with diseases that remain difficult to treat," Prof O'Neill said.

The team at TCD worked in collaboration with UK and US scientists and the findings are published in the journal, Nature.