Autoimmune Disease Treatment May Not Dampen Immune System
Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:09 pm
THURSDAY, June 19 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have uncovered cellular proteins that may be key to certain autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, according to a new study.
The findings, performed so far only in mice, point to potential new treatments for a range of human diseases that are mediated by immune system T-cells. These include many inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, illnesses that involve an immune system run amok.
More important, such a treatment might provide patients with all the benefits of existing drugs, without the general immune suppression that often accompanies them.
"It has an effect on an autoimmune disease -- a mouse model of multiple sclerosis -- and an inflammatory disease -- a mouse model of asthma -- but does not seem to interfere with protective immunity against toxoplasma, a parasite," said one expert, Dr. Noel Rose, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Autoimmune Disease Research in Baltimore.
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second article on same finding
The findings, performed so far only in mice, point to potential new treatments for a range of human diseases that are mediated by immune system T-cells. These include many inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, illnesses that involve an immune system run amok.
More important, such a treatment might provide patients with all the benefits of existing drugs, without the general immune suppression that often accompanies them.
"It has an effect on an autoimmune disease -- a mouse model of multiple sclerosis -- and an inflammatory disease -- a mouse model of asthma -- but does not seem to interfere with protective immunity against toxoplasma, a parasite," said one expert, Dr. Noel Rose, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Autoimmune Disease Research in Baltimore.
more...
second article on same finding