New Study Disclosed about Autoimmune Diseases
Researchers from University of Michigan state that they have discovered a new method by which they can hold in place immune cells that are characterized by an aggressive reaction and attack the own cells of the human body. This discovery is a great one since it opens the path for new research with regards to autoimmune illnesses, cancer disease and transplants of organs.
The conclusions of the study can be found in Nature Chemical Biology issue. The study comprises observations regarding T cells of the immune system which act as regulators between the immune cells that show a particular aggressive behavior and their environment through a chemical reaction. Professor Ruma Banerjee is the study`s senior author and activates in the Vincent Massey Collegiate Professor of Biological Chemistry and associate chair of biological chemistry at the U-M Medical School. He explains: “Now we know that the redox environment outside the cell is a very important dynamic. It regulates cell function.” These redox chemical processes represent the milestones in the manner cells produce and consume energy.
The T-cells have a regulatory role in the aggressive behavior of the aggressive immune cells also known as auto-reactive T cells. The normal T-cells act in two way, they either stop the aggressive cousin cells or make them to increase in number. The proliferation of aggressive immune cells triggers the inflammation of the intestine entitled IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) and also causes ulcerative colitis.
Researchers on Professor Banerjee`s team want to deepen the studies about the regulatory T cells and plan to experiment on animals. Due to the fact that this type of cells influences the response of the body to diseases, pregnancy and organ transplant, scholars wish to find out more about the way the aggressive T cells can be counteracted by their normal variant.
Background
The immune system contains cells that confuse the own body`s components and treat them as threats and start attacking them. Auto-reactive T cells trigger multiple sclerosis, Crohn`s disease, lupus, and so on and so forth. These represent immune diseases caused by the fact that the cells in the human body attack each other. This is why scholars desire to discover the way in which normal T cells can stall or stop the activity of aggressive auto-reactive T cells. Furthermore, researchers want to find a way to make auto-reactive T cells recognize and try to destroy the cancer cells.
It has been discovered that the redox chemistry has an important part in the mechanism of regulation of immune cells. Even if this is still an emerging field in medicine, it is not least important due to the fact that redox can help cure many diseases. The researchers believe that their observations and discoveries will bring in the future the knowledge to regulate the T regulatory in order to cure diseases and stop the body`s cells from aggressive behavior against one another. The first author of this study, graduate student Zhonghua Yan states: “Redox chemistry is a mechanism that is fundamentally important in understanding T regulatory cell actions.” says
Conducting research and future plans
The team of researchers studied the immune system of mice by looking at culture dishes with immune cells. They discovered that between dendritic cells and auto-reactive T cells there is redox communication. The first represent the immune cells that are the prime ones in detecting foreign bodies in the human body and they change the chemical environment in order to stimulate the activation of the T cells. However, these immune regulatory cells get involved in the redox communication and minimize the effect.
Researchers recognize the fact that many more studies are needed in order to better understand the way these processes work. Moreover they wish to do experiments on animals suffering from inflammatory bowel disease or any other immune disease. Professor Ruma Banerjee states: “We are keen to move this into a disease model.” The researchers` desire is an accomplishable one due to the fact that past studies made it easy to understand the way in which regulatory T cells interfere in the redox chemistry.
