From rxpgnews.com
Discovery to help trick body into accepting transplants
By IANS,
Jan 24, 2009 - 2:49:53 PM
Sydney, Jan 24 - A discovery can trick the body into accepting tissues or transplants as its own, eliminating the necessity for immunity suppressing medicines.
Stacey Walters, a researcher in immunology at Garvan Institute of Medical Research, has found that mice genetically engineered to produce large amounts of B cell activating factor - do not reject transplants.
She has shown that increased numbers of B cells - in turn stimulate the production of T regulatory cells, which then control T cells, the body's killer cells.
The surprising thing about the results is that B cells, which make antibodies, were not known to have any role in the production of T regulatory cells. Nor would it have been thought possible for them to influence the body's response to a transplant, which has been considered a function of T cells only.
'In normal situations, something has to turn the immune system off once your body's fought an invader, such as a virus. It's the T regulatory cells that come in and say 'enough's enough',' Walters explained.
Just to make sure it was the B cells that were provoking the changes, she repeated her experiments on a mouse in which B cells were genetically knocked out, but high BAFF levels preserved. She found that when there are no B cells, normal allograft rejection occurs, said a Garvan release.
Walter's results provide an insight into previously unknown interrelationships between various classes of immune cells. Manipulating these relationships may offer a way of preserving organ grafts in the future without the need for toxic immunosuppressive drugs.
The findings have been published in the Journal of Immunology.
All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited ( www.rxpgnews.com )