Novel therapy

Abstract

A method for treating cystitis, in particular acute cystitis, comprising administering to a patient in need thereof, an effective amount of a reagent selected from the group consisting of IL-1β inhibitors and MMP inhibitors, or proteins selected from ASC or NLRP-3. Diagnostic methods are also described and claimed.

1 . A method for treating cystitis comprising administering to a patient in need thereof, an effective amount of a reagent selected from the group consisting of IL-Iβ inhibitors and MMP inhibitors. 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the cystitis is acute cystitis. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the reagent is an IL-Iβ inhibitor. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3  wherein the IL-Iβ inhibitor is an interleukin-1 receptor antagonist 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4  wherein the IL-Iβ inhibitor is anakinra. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the reagent is an MMP inhibitor. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6  wherein the MMP inhibitor is an MMP7 inhibitor. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 7  wherein the MMP7 inhibitor is Batimastat. 
     
     
         9 . A method for diagnosing cystitis and in particular, acute cystitis, said method comprising detecting elevated levels of IL-Iβ or MMP-7 in urine of a subject. 
     
     
         10 . A method for diagnosing susceptibility to cystitis, said method comprising detecting a mutation in a gene encoding a protein selected from ASC or NLRP-3 which results in downregulation of said gene and/or in the expression of inactive protein.