Manipulating a newly discovered type of immune cell may be able to guard against certain autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, according to scientists at UC San Francisco.
Researchers found that a specific immune cell called eTAC plays a role in the phenomenon of peripheral tolerance, which helps prevent autoimmune disease throughout the body. In a mouse model of diabetes, the UCSF team manipulated eTACs, which reside in lymph nodes and spleens in both humans and mice, to stop the destruction of the pancreas.
"We need to figure out how to grow a lot of these cells, to load them up with whatever molecule it is that we want to induce tolerance to, and then to load them back into a patient," Dr. Mark Anderson, a professor with the UCSF Diabetes Center, said in a news release. "Such a strategy could help selectively shut down an unwanted immune response, such as the anti-islet immune response in Type 1 diabetes."
ETAC cells are classified as dendritic cells, which make up less than 3% of the immune system's total number of cells. ETAC cells only account for a small fraction of all dendritic cells, which have been the focus of new anti-cancer cell therapies.
The idea behind these cell therapies is that they cause dendritic cells to stimulate a complementary class of immune cells, called T cells, to target and kill cancer cells. ETAC cells work in a different way, by counteracting the overactive immune response in autoimmune diseases. The research appears in the September issue of the journal Immunity.
The team hopes to create a therapeutic use for their discovery. The next step is to figure out how to grow eTACs in large numbers outside the body.
- read the press release
- here's the study abstract
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