Tolerant T cells
A new method of editing T-cells stops the rejection of the transplanted organ by the body
Rejection of a donor organ is a major problem in transplant medicine. The immune system perceives it as a foreign object – along with viruses and harmful bacteria – and begins to fight it. "Turning off" the immune system is too risky: it opens the way to life-threatening infections. Researchers from the University of Basel (Switzerland) found a compromise: they turned off one protein in the immune cells of mice, which made it possible to stop the rejection of the transplant. At the same time, the cells have not lost their ability to fight infections, the university said in a statement (Engineered T cells promote long-term organ transplant acceptance).
The name of the protein in question sounds like this: koronin-1. It regulates T cells – the main "weapon" of our immune system, which detect and destroy the "invaders" of the body. Coronin-1 reduces the intensity of the signaling pathway, which promotes the formation of a cAMP molecule – the so-called "second intermediary" in the transmission of an intracellular signal. In the absence of coronin-1, cAMP levels increase dramatically in T cells, which makes these cells tolerant (or rather, tolerant) for the transplanted organ: they no longer perceive it as an enemy. At the same time, despite the editing, T-cells still continue to control viruses, bacteria and fungal infections and fight them.
Research by the laboratory of Jean Pieters (Jean Pieters) It has been shown that there is a way to manipulate the immune response of the body by selectively suppressing the host's immune response. Whether this discovery can lead to the development of treatment methods that can preserve both transplanted organs and the body's ability to fight infections at the same time is a challenge for the future.
The results of the work are given in an article published in the journal Cell (Jayachandran et al., Disruption of Coronin 1 Signaling in T Cells Promotes Allograft Tolerance while Maintaining Anti-Pathogen Immunity).
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