autoimmunity
3 stories tagged "autoimmunity"
Autoimmune & Inflammation
One Protein Keeps Your Immune System's Peacekeeper Cells From Switching Sides
Regulatory T cells are supposed to be the immune system's off switch. Strip out a protein called TIF1γ and, under inflammation, they lose that identity, start producing an inflammatory cytokine, and join the attack.
CancerOne Protein Keeps Your T Cells in the Fight. The Same Protein Feeds Autoimmune Disease.
In mice, deleting the LEF1 gene collapsed the reserve T cells that sustain the fight against chronic infection and cancer. The same deletion protected against autoimmune diabetes.
Autoimmune & InflammationYour Thymus Quietly Stages a Lung. Researchers Just Named the Cell Playing the Part.
A new Nature Immunology study identifies an alveolar lung-like cell hiding inside the thymus, where it appears to teach the immune system not to attack your real lungs.