Abnormal Alpha-Interferon Secretion can improve gene therapies for immune system diseases
A link was found between abnormal secretion of alpha interferon to the malfunctioning immune systems of young patients with lupus by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research in Dallas.
Lupus is a body disease that can be fatal without early treatment and damages skin, heart, kidney, and other organs in children.
From Sciencedaily.com:
Pascual said the normal process appears to be altered in lupus patients as the dendritic cells are hyperactivated by alpha interferon, one of three main classes of specialized protein weapons activated in the body’s otherwise normal war against viruses.
“Once that virus-fighting job is done, the interferon normally disappears, but not in lupus patients,” she said.
Pascual said blocking the abnormal alpha-interferon secretion could be the key to developing better lupus therapies than the currently prescribed steroids, other anti-inflammatory agents and chemotherapy. More research is needed to test that theory, she said.
For the study, laboratory analyses were run on blood samples taken from 70 7- to 18-year-old lupus patients and a similar number of age-matched children and youth in control groups at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.
Palucka said the tests showed that alpha interferon plays a key role in the immune process going haywire as the dendritic cells activate B and T cells, two types of white blood cells, against infectious agents.
Dr. Karolina Palucka, an associate investigator at the Baylor Immunology Institute and a researcher on the study, said this study is the first for identifying how the interaction lymphoid and myeloid dendritic cells, which play fundamental roles for initiating immune responses to bacteria, viruses and other invading antigens, can go wrong in lupus patients.
