Study confirms NEM eggshell membrane ingredient's effect in quenching pro-inflammatory cytokines

27-Feb-2014 - Last updated on 13-Oct-2014 at 14:59 GMT

ESM Technologies has published new research that shows how its ESM eggshell membrane ingredient supports a healthy inflammatory response by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines in a rat model.

“Many products state that they are anti-inflammatory but they have no substantiation for that claim,” Kevin Ruff, PhD, director of scientific & regulatory affairs for ESM Technologies told NutraIngredients-USA.

“That’s why we set out to do this research. We have a number of trials that show our proudct in effective in joint pain and stiffness but people always want to know why it works.”

In vivo study confirms earlier in vitro results

The results from this most recent study, published in Modern Research in Inflammation, showed substantial reductions of a variety of pro-inflammatory cytokines while, importantly, having little effect on the anti-inflammatory cytokines evaluated. The initial studies in healthy rats demonstrated large reductions (up to 88%) in cytokines that occur later in the inflammatory cascade (e.g. MCP-1, MIP-1β, RANTES, VEGF). Whereas a follow-up study in inflammatory-challenged rats demonstrated significant reductions (40-44%) in IL-1β, a key primary mediator of inflammation. Similar results were obtained previously in in vitro studies measuring the response of human immune cells, Ruff said.

Ruff said there are some key points to keep in mind in the study design.

“We demonstrated the effect in both healthy as well as inflammation-challenged animals,” he said. “In nearly all the research that is conducted on animals in this area you are somehow causing the animals to have inflammation in order to be able to demonstrate an effect. We took a group of animals that didn’t have unusual inflammation.”

Two sides of inflammation

And Ruff said the unique thing about NEM is that it has been shown to work on one side of the inflammation coin.

“There is the pro-inflammatory side and the anti-inflammatory side and they have to stay in balance for the immune system to be healthy,” Ruff said. “In reality what we inhibited was the pro inflammatory side. You get an amplification effect; you haven’t turned off the cytokines involved in fighting infection.”

The research has formed the basis of the company’s patent, Ruff said. And it forms a plausible argument for NEM’s ability to influence a number of cytokines associated with the progression of cartilage destruction within joints, providing a plausible basis for the mechanism of action of NEM in-vivo, serving as an important step in explaining its observed clinical efficacy seen in multiple human studies.

ESM markets its ingredient via a joint venture formed with Stratum Nutrition in 2011.

Source: Modern Research in Inflammation
2014, Volume 3, Number 1, doi: 10.4236/mri.2014.31003
"Reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in rats following 7-day oral supplementation with a proprietary eggshell membrane-derived product"
Authors: Kevin J. Ruff, Dale P. Devore

Source: Modern Research in Inflammation

"Reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in rats following 7-day oral supplementation with a proprietary eggshell membrane-derived product"

DOI: 10.4236/mri.2014.31003

http://www.scirp.org/journal/mri/

http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=43071#.Uw9M3XnoaqQ