A virus infection can incite the body to attack its own nerve tissue by activating rare, disease-fighting cells with receptors for both viral and nerve proteins.
The dual-receptor observation suggests a way nerve damage might be triggered in susceptible young adults afflicted with multiple sclerosis (MS).
University of Washington Department of Immunology scientists Qingyong "John" Ji, Antoine Perchellet, and Joan M. Goverman conducted the study, which was published this week in Nature Immunology.
This is thought to be the first study to reveal a mechanism for autoimmune disease that depends on destroyer immune cells expressing dual receptors for a normal protein made by the body and a pathogen.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1100