the Immune cells of our body ” is a highly efficient “patrol,” which reveals the alien invasion and starts to fight the threat.
But, unfortunately, the immune “system identification” accurate not 100%. Sometimes the defenders start to attack healthy cells and tissues, leading to autoimmune diseases.
One of the most common and painful is rheumatoid arthritis.
People who put such a diagnosis, are forced to live with constant pain, almost all their movements are constrained. Also these patients are at increased risk of developing heart disease and kidney failure, they suffer from visual impairment, and other inflammatory complications.
it is Established that rheumatoid arthritis reduces life expectancy on average 3-12 years.
Hope for new effective treatments that can protect people from inflammation of the joints, gives the new work of scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. They found a mechanism that may be key in regulating unwanted immune attacks.
the Researchers focused on a pair of proteins known as interleukin 4 (IL-4) and interleukin 13 (IL-13). These are information molecules that are produced by immune cells in the presence of allergens or parasitic diseases.
Experts are studying these interleukins in search of more effective ways to treat inflammation and related disorders.
the Swedish scientists used the editing technology CRISPR genes for the modification of individual genes of immune cells to figure out how to change their behavior.
Experiments have shown that IL-4 and IL-13 influence the behavior of neutrophils — immune cells, which in large quantities are collected in the inflamed joints of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
In particular, it was found that interleukins 4 and 13 to prevent migration of neutrophils to the inflamed joint, thereby stopping the neutrophilic response (autoimmune attack).
moreover, these proteins help to eliminatit is the inflammation of the joint. It turned out that their presence stimulates an increase in receptors on the surface of neutrophils that inhibit (slow down or neutralize) the inflammatory process.
the Researchers believe this discovery will play a key role in the development of new treatments of joint inflammation and conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
Scientific article on the results of this work have been accepted for publication in the journal PNAS.
by the Way, earlier “Conduct.Science” (nauka.vesti.ru) talked about the trials of a new drug against rheumatoid arthritis and vitamin will help to prevent the development of this disease.
Text: To.Science
