New in the treatment of autoimmune diseases
How to "dissuade" white blood cells from attacking the tissues of your body
Alexandra "Renoire" Alekseeva, XX2 century, based on the materials of The Conversation: Autoimmune diseases: we discovered how to turn white blood cells from attacking the body to protecting it.
A recent study conducted at the University of Birmingham on the example of multiple sclerosis showed that it is possible to stop the body's attack on its own tissues by supplying the immune system with increasing volumes of a molecule that the immune system perceives as a pathogen. It was also possible to explain the mechanisms behind the switching of T cells from attack to defense.
The results of the work are published in the journal Cell Reports (Bevington et al., Chromatin Priming Renders T Cell Tolerance-Associated Genes Sensitive to Activation below the Signaling Threshold for Immune Response Genes).
Immunity performs the function of protecting the body from bacteria, viruses and other pathogens, but there are exceptions. In some people, white blood cells mistakenly classify the cells and tissues of their own body as a threat, and begin to attack them. Such pathologies are called autoimmune diseases. At the moment, for many of them there is only supportive treatment that does not eliminate the pathology itself. Some of these diseases, such as multiple sclerosis or Graves' disease, are now being treated with immunosuppressants. But suppression of the immune system has many side effects, including an increased likelihood of cancer. Alternative treatment, the path to which researchers from Birmingham are now paving, potentially has fewer "side effects".
The task of T cells is to recognize various antigens, parts of pathogens. After the antigen is recognized, the cell begins to multiply. At the same time, T-lymphocytes include genes that help them attack the immune response. When the infection is eliminated, some of the antigen-specific T cells remain, forming cellular immunity – a kind of immune memory. This memory is preserved for life.
In autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Graves' disease or type I diabetes, the immune system attacks its own tissues by mistake. For MS, it is the base protein of myelin, a component of the outer coating of nerve cells. As a result, MS patients lose control of their muscles.
Weakening of T cells
Peter Cockerill and David C. Wraith studied T cells that recognize the main protein of myelin as an antigen. In the experiment, scientists influenced patients with gradually increasing doses of the main protein myelin. It was shown that as the study progressed, the T cells became less reactive. That is, progressive exposure to the antigen reprogrammed the T cells so that the signals telling the cells to attack the protein became weaker.
How can this be explained? The immune system is regulated by two of the most important types of genes. One type orders the immune system to attack, and the other type silences it. When interacting with antigens, these two genes are reprogrammed at the chromosomal level. Repeated exposure to the main protein myelin also provoked such reprogramming. It affected inhibitory genes in a way that allowed T cells to remember that they should not go into attack mode when they encounter specific fragments of the main myelin protein.
Results of short-term preliminary clinical trials It was shown that in patients with multiple sclerosis and Graves' disease, the state of health improved with such therapy. But this is not the end result, research will continue, and perhaps someday immunotherapy based on antigens will replace immunosuppression, potentially having fewer side effects.
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