Posted on: Sunday, 13 June 2010, 07:50 CDT
White blood cells with receptors for both virus and nerve proteins may assault nerves after fighting an infection
A virus infection can incite the body to attack its own nerve tissue by activating unusual, disease-fighting cells with receptors for both viral and nerve proteins. The dual-receptor observation suggests a way brain and spinal cord 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 June 6 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.
Multiple sclerosis is one of many autoimmune disorders in which the body's lines of defense become misguided and start damaging normal tissue. In the case of multiple sclerosis, the protective sheath around major nerves -- the myelin -- in the brain and spinal cord disintegrates. Like a frayed electrical cord, the nerves no longer transmit a clear signal.
People with multiple sclerosis might lose their ability to see, walk, or use their arms, depending on which nerves are affected. The symptoms can appear, disappear, and re-appear. The disease is more common in women than in men.
In healthy people, the immune system is kept in check to tolerate the usual proteins and cells in the body, much like an eager watch dog is put on a leash and trained to ignore friends and neighbors, yet still protect the family.
"Autoimmunity is believed to arise from an accidental breakdown in this tolerance of the body's own proteins. This breakdown is triggered by something in the environment, most likely a pathogen," noted Goverman, professor and acting chair of immunology whose research concentrates on the origins of autoimmune disease. Her lab is studying mechanisms that maintain tolerance, as well as the "tripping" mechanisms that defeat it.
In their most recently published study, her research team genetically engineered mice that over-produce a certain type of white blood cell from a group known as killer T cells. The normal function of killer cells is to attack tumor cells or cells infected with viruses or other pathogens. These T cells have receptors that recognize specific proteins that infected cells display to them, much like holding up a target in a window.
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