Find out about this study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the scientific journal PNAS reports and how it affects RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis)
Endogenous proteins that play a vital part in allergies and parasitic infection can prevent the immune system from wrongly attacking the body and causing inflamed joints, a new study reports.
The researchers hope that the results will give rise to new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis.
SUMMARY:
- Researchers at Karolinska Institutet discovered that certain proteins can play an important part in preventing autoimmune attacks.
- These proteins are called IL-4 and IL-13
- The proteins, are secreted by immune cells in the presence of allergens or parasitic infections.
- They influence the behaviour of a specific immune cell called a neutrophil.
- Neutrophils are the most abundant immune cells found in the actively inflamed joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
- Proteins, IL-4 and IL-13, prevent neutrophils from migrating into the inflamed joint.
- Researchers used the CRISPR method to modify immune-cell genes to understand how they affect cell behaviour.
"I have high hopes that the experimental use of CRISPR will be hugely important to our understanding of how immune-cell behaviour is regulated, and that this can guide us in the development of new efficacious drugs." says Dr Wermeling assistant professor at the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet (Solna).
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