Presentation Prize Delcroix 2007 - Prof. Dr. Jan Tytgat
On Friday 11 April 2008, during an academic session in the Belgian Marine Institute for Orthopedics (Ostend), the Prize Dr. Edouard Delcroix 2005 was officially awarded to Prof. Dr Jan Tytgat (Head of the laboratory for toxicology of the Catholic University of Leuven). This solemn meeting took place in the Belgian Marine Institute for Orthopedics (BZIO) in Ostend. The institute was the perfect location for this event, due to the inseparable link between the institute and the family Delcroix. It was Dr. Edouard Delcroix, notorious Belgian orthopedic surgeon and pioneer in the thalasso therapy (1891-1973), which was the source of inspiration of this price.
With his submission ‘Toxins from jellyfish and sea anemones: a ‘sea’ of molecules with therapeutic potential’ Jan Tytgat (° Borgerhout, 1963), not only wins the prestigious prize Dr. Edouard Delcroix. He also contributed to the analysis of the functioning of the poison of jellyfish and sea anemones and to the therapeutic treatment of it.
The international biennial price Dr Delcroix worth 12,500 EUR is awarded by the associations HYDRO and VLIZ to a researcher or research team for an original scientific study on health-determining aspects of the marine environment in the broadest possible sense. In the future, the price Dr E. Delcroix will be organized every three years and will amount to 25,000 EUR.
The award-winning work of Prof. Dr Jan Tytgat deals with the groundbreaking research into the functioning and treatment of jellyfish bites. Venomous animals have evolved a vast array of toxins for prey capture and defence. Members of the phylum Cnidaria, like jellyfish and sea anemones, commonly possess specialized stinging organelles, called nematocysts, to capture prey animals. Increased frequency and magnitude of jellyfish blooms worldwide, together with increased occupational and recreational exposure of at-risk coastal populations to cnidarian envenomations, underscore the need for better clinical management tools for treatment of such stings. Unfortunately, currently available clinical care modalities based on symptomatic treatment of resultant erythema, burning pain, hypersensitivity and inflammation generally fail to ameliorate suffering. Thus, the inadequate understanding of the principal pathophysiological pathways initiated by Cnidaria envenomation has been a major impediment for the development of more targeted and effective treatments.
Since TRPV1, a non-selective cation channel expressed in nociceptive neurons, is known to be involved in temperature and burning-pain sensation, Prof. Tytgat have investigated the role of TRPV1 in these typical neurological disturbances caused by cnidaria venom and its toxins. Based on the experimental results, the in vitro and in vivo data provide the very first evidence that TRPV1 is a key player in cnidaria envenomations and furthermore, that the use of selective TRPV1 antagonists as analgesics in these envenomations warrants serious consideration for clinical trials and drug development.
Prof. Tytgat and his Master of Science Apr. Eva Cuypers, closely involved in this investigation, already requested a patent on selective TRPV1 antagonists for the treatment of jellyfish bites.
