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A new cell discovery could pave the way to novel treatments for multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases, scientists believe.

Researchers in the US identified a previously unknown molecular interaction that helps programme the immune system to attack the body's own cells.

The findings explain how and under what conditions a particular enzyme, PKC-theta, activates disease-fighting white blood cells called T-lymphocytes.

Scientists led by Dr Amnon Altman, from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in California, identified a small region of the enzyme that appears to be vital to the process.

British expert Professor Christopher Rudd, from Cambridge University, said the discovery was a "big advance" with clinical implications. "This now means that this region in PKC-theta can be targeted by novel therapeutics, or that protein fragments of the region itself could be used to treat a variety of immune disorders," he said.

The research is published in the journal Nature Immunology.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/3246

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