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Harvest improves in North Korea but malnutrition concerns remain, U.N. food agencies say

April 07, 2017

The UCSF scientists genetically engineered a strain of mice in which they could switch on or off the production of a particular self protein, called ovalbumin, in the skin. The mice were triggered to make an overabundance of the protein, which provoked an autoimmune response.

However, the presence of the protein also stimulated the activation of T regulatory cells. The activated T regulatory cells proliferated and transformed into a more potent form that better suppresses autoimmunity.

When the researchers again boosted ovalbumin production in the mice it provoked a weaker autoimmune response, due to the presence of already activated T regulatory cells.

T regulatory cells already are being explored in therapies aimed at preventing the rejection of transplanted organs, including treatment developed by a team led by Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD, now UCSF executive vice chancellor and provost.

But the discovery of long-lived memory cells among the T regulatory cell population highlights the potential for using specialized memory cells in treatment to help prevent attack on specific molecular targets, which immunologists call "antigens." It may be possible to raise such specialized memory cells outside the body and return the bolstered ranks of protective cells to the patient, Rosenblum said.

Although the role of activated T regulatory memory cells had not previously been recognized, "It's the generally accepted success of what the allergists call specific immunotherapy that has led to recent clinical trials of antigen administration in multiple sclerosis and in type 1 diabetes," Abbas said.

Source: University of California - San Francisco