New research conducted by scientists at NIH and other institutions highlights a potential link between allergic diseases--like asthma and celiac--and autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes.
The culprit could be a gene called Bach2, which is implicated in both allergic and autoimmune diseases, according to previous research from genome-wide studies of people's DNA. Allergic and autoimmune diseases are similar in that the immune system becomes compromised in both types of disorders. In a new study conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), both part of NIH, investigators found that the Bach2 gene was a critical regulator of the immune system's reactivity in mice.
"We found that the Bach2 gene played a key role in regulating the switch between inflammatory and regulatory cells in mice," said NIAMS researcher Dr. Kiyoshi Hirahara.
The cells of mice that lacked the Bach2 gene became inflammatory and the mice died of autoimmune diseases within the first few months of life. When scientists used gene therapy to reinsert Bach2 genes into cells deficient of it, the mice were once again able to produce regulatory cells--namely, white blood cells called CD4+T cells that activate and constrain immune responses to maintain a healthy balance in the immune system.
If one gene is behind a host of different diseases, it could potentially help develop therapies for numerous allergies and autoimmune disorders that are associated with alterations in the Bach2 gene. But first the research must be replicated in humans before it can move forward in a clinical setting.
The Sidra Medical and Research Centre in Doha, Qatar, and the Department of Biochemistry at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, collaborated with NIH scientists, whose study appeared online in Nature on June 2.
- here's the press release
- check out the preview of the study in Nature