Publication Date:
2016-07-01
Description:
Autoimmune diseases share a grim similarity with cancer: People's own cells become their enemies. But a study published online in Science reveals a happier parallel, suggesting that a therapy designed to harness the immune system to attack cancer cells may also cull the turncoat immune cells behind certain autoimmune diseases. The approach relies on chimeric antigen receptor T cells, or CAR T cells: immune cells genetically modified to home in on a desired target on cancer cells or—in this case—on rogue B cells, another immune cell type. The new study only gauged the CAR T cells' capabilities in the lab dish and in mouse models of pemphigus vulgaris, an autoimmune condition in which B cells secrete antibodies that attack a protein in skin and mucous membrane. But some scientists are already calling the approach, which specifically targets the errant B cells, a breakthrough. Author: Mitch Leslie
Keywords:
Immunology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Geosciences
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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