By Maria Cohut: For More Info, Go Here…
ngd-This is certainly a better approach if successful…..
Current treatments for autoimmune conditions rely on neutralizing the immune cells that mistakenly target and attack the body’s own healthy tissue.
However, a major downside of existing therapies is that they end up inactivating not just the specific immune cells causing the damage, but also other immune cells that are functioning normally.
This leaves the body exposed to all kinds of other diseases and infections.
Now, a research team from University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City has begun to look into disabling only the particular sets of immune cells that cause trouble in autoimmune conditions, while preserving the integrity of healthy immune cells so they can continue to do their job.
The new research — conducted in mouse models — focuses on programmed cell death protein (PD-1) cells. PD-1 is a type of protein on the surface of certain cells, and it plays a key role in regulating the immune response.
In a healthy immune system, the researchers explain, two types of specialized cells — B and T lymphocytes — express PD-1, and they feature a mechanism that checks immune cells’ activity to prevent them from attacking healthy cells.
In people with autoimmune conditions, that mechanism becomes ineffective, and immune cells mistakenly turn against the body.