RESEARCH - RA breakthough: Foxp3

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Rheumatoid Arthritis Breakthrough - Plos Biology

MedicalNewsToday

Article Date: 11 Nov 2008 - 1:00 PST

Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful, inflammatory type of arthritis that

occurs when the body's immune system attacks itself. A new paper,

published in this week's issue of PLoS Biology, reports a breakthrough

in the understanding of how autoimmune responses can be controlled,

offering a promising new strategy for therapy development for

rheumatoid arthritis.

Normally, immune cells develop to recognise foreign material -

antigens; including bacteria - so that they can activate a response

against them.

Immune cells that would respond to 'self' and therefore attack the

body's own cells are usually destroyed during development. If any

persist, they are held in check by special regulatory cells that

provide a sort of autoimmune checkpoint. A key player in these

regulatory cells is a molecule called Foxp3. People who lack or have

mutated versions of the Foxp3 gene lack or have dysfunctional immune

regulation, which causes dramatic autoimmune disease.

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Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/128737.php

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