2024-07-16 05:00:00
More than 75,000 people suffer from systemic lupus erythematosus in Spain, according to the latest available data. This novel pathology is autoimmune in nature: essentially, It is the immune system that attacks the patient’s bodyin some cases causing serious harm.
The problem is that until today scientists have not been able to identify What causes this immune reaction?, and therefore the options to treat or prevent it are very limited. However, a new study published in a popular journal Creation has now developed a new theory about the origin of the disease that may even offer the keys to possible new treatments.
An abnormal increase in certain T cells
This conclusion is the result of comparison and testing with blood samples from 19 patients with lupus and 19 healthy people. On these samples, the authors of the work practice complex molecular science techniques, including gene editing using the CRISPR tool and a specialized method for sequencing ribonucleic acid, similar to DNA and present in all cells.
To understand the findings, it is necessary to know that in ourselves There are many types of immune cells; between which B and T cells stand out.
In lupus, a special feature is abnormal increase in T helper follicular (TFH) and peripheral T helper (TPH) cell phenotypeswhich in healthy people ‘help’ B cells defend themselves against external threat.
The key to changing the problem
Therefore, molecular and genetic analysis methods show that lupus patients carry an abnormality in the group of T cells that have these two genes, because there is growth in their populations to the destruction of other T cell partners. Incidentally, these changes in healthy people are associated with the presence of bacteria, contaminants and certain metabolites (chemical reactions of processes that convert food into energy).
The most interesting thing is that by making some changes to the blood samples using genetic editing tools it is possible to reduce the pathological process, preventing the abnormal increase in TFH and TPH cells and instead promote the development of the T cell population that is weak in lupus.
It is a fact that is still far from clinical practice (this experiment has been done on blood samples not on humansand the use of gene editing technologies in humans is delicate and still very much an experimental issue), but studies like this ultimately bring us closer to understanding the mechanisms of lupus in addition to providing more clues to the mechanisms for which we must seek way. to intervene.
References
Law, C., Wacleche, VS, Cao, Y. et al. Interferon modulates an AHR-JUN to promote CXCL13+ T cells in lupus. Nature (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07627-2
Do you want to get the best content to take care of your health and feel good? Sign up for our new newsletter for free.
We are already on WhatsApp! If you want to get all the latest news and the most important news of the day on your mobile, Click here and join our channel. It is a free, comfortable and safe program.
#discovered #lupus #lead #finding #cure