Protection against arthritis
The immune system is critically important for the survival of the body and is designed to protect against infections. Unfortunately, sometimes immune cells can attack their own body, leading to the development of autoimmune diseases. These diseases are often severe and affect about five percent of the population. One of them is rheumatoid arthritis, in which the patient's immune system attacks the tissues of the joints, causing inflammation and pain. To develop effective methods of treating patients with autoimmune diseases, scientists must have a deep understanding of the mechanisms of regulation of immune cell activity.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, have found that certain proteins – interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-13 (IL-13) – can play an important role in preventing autoimmune attacks. Interleukins are secreted by immune cells in the presence of allergens or parasitic infections and affect the behavior of a certain type of immune cell – a neutrophil. These are the most common immune cells found in actively inflamed joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. They are especially active against their own tissue, since they can secrete various non-specific tissue stimuli.
Previous studies on experimental models have shown that IL-4 and IL-13 can affect the course of arthritis, but exactly how they do it remained a mystery. The results of the current study show that these interleukins prevent the migration of neutrophils into the inflamed joint. The presence of IL-4 or IL-13 also stimulates an increase in neutrophil surface receptors, which have an inhibitory effect on joint inflammation.
In their study, the authors used the CRISPR method to modify individual immune cell genes to understand how they affect cell behavior.
The results obtained with CRISPR have become the key to understanding how the system under study is regulated. Turning this new knowledge into new advanced treatments for joint inflammation and conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis will require a lot of further research. The authors intend to continue to study these mechanisms, as they hope that they will help develop methods for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
The article by S.K.Panda et al. IL-4 controls activated neutrophil FcyR2b expression and migration into inflamed joints is published in the journal PNAS.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Karolinska Institutet: Proteins that protect against joint inflammation identified.