{"id":6124,"date":"2023-08-01T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=6124"},"modified":"2024-07-18T19:03:37","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T19:03:37","slug":"decades-of-research-have-left-knowledge-gaps-about-cells-that-regulate-the-immune-system-purdue-and-nih","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2023\/Q3\/decades-of-research-have-left-knowledge-gaps-about-cells-that-regulate-the-immune-system-purdue-and-nih","title":{"rendered":"Decades of research have left knowledge gaps about cells that regulate the immune system: Purdue and NIH"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —<\/p> \n

Four decades of research have produced a vast pool of knowledge about regulatory T cells, a subset of our immune cells. Even so, scientists at Purdue University and the National Institutes of Health have identified 14 understudied T-reg proteins that merit increased attention for the molecular roles they play in disease onset. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cOur lab studies the exact molecular mechanism underlying autoimmunity, infection and cancer,\u201d said Majid Kazemian<\/a>, associate professor of biochemistry<\/a> in the College of Agriculture and computer science<\/a> in the College of Science at Purdue. An overactive immune system results in autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. And an underactive immune system means greater susceptibility to cancer. \u201cThis is the balance that exists in some cells. T-regs maintain those balances,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kazemian joined with the National Institutes of Health (NIH)\u2019s Jorge Trujillo-Ochoa and Behdad (Ben) Afzali<\/a> in reviewing the body of research about T-reg cells in the journal Nature Reviews Immunology<\/em><\/a>. Kazemian and Afzali have contributed multiple publications to that body of work, including one on T-regs and autoimmune disease in 2018<\/a> and another on T-regs and cancer in 2021<\/a>. Lead author Trujillo-Ochoa, an NIH postdoctoral fellow, specializes in regulatory T-cell biology and the proteins that control their function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRegulatory T cells are only a small percentage of the T cells that we have in our body, but you can\u2019t live without them,\u201d said Afzali, a Stadtman Investigator at NIH\u2019s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudying T cell processes at the molecular level is critical to understanding their implications on human diseases,\u201d Afzali said. \u201cIf one of these processes goes wrong, you can get organ-specific disease. Understanding how these cells work also gives you the opportunity to intervene with molecules that can modify some of their functions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review article focuses on transcription factors \u2014 proteins that regulate sets of genes, which program regulatory cells to perform certain actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn theory, you may find some of these programs are abnormal in patients who develop diseases,\u201d Afzali said. \u201cUnderstanding these molecular mechanisms is important to make that connection in diseases.\u201d For example, if a virus switches off one of those transcription factors, the result might be a defect in a cellular program that leads to a corresponding autoimmune disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

T-reg cells have particular transcription factors that maintain the core function of dampening the activity of other immune cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could have additional transcription factors that amend specific functions,\u201d Kazemian said. \u201cTo identify what factors drive some of the T-regs toward certain paths is going to help us prevent autoimmunity or to help cancer patients by fine-tuning particular T-regs. What happens to them that they acquire a specific property or functionality?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each line of specialized cells could have a different function in various organs and diseases. \u201cFor example, we have shown<\/a> that a specific gene in the T-regs called TCF1 is associated with colorectal cancer disease severity,\u201d Kazemian said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afzali, an M.D.-PhD, is especially interested in cell therapy that involves removing regulatory cells, altering them outside the body, then putting them back in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRegulatory T cells as a form of cell-based therapy is just one arm of this incredible field,\u201d Afzali said. \u201cIt\u2019s a blossoming area of research, and we\u2019re learning more about what can and can\u2019t be done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This work was supported by the NIH, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the\u00a0Purdue Institute for Cancer Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n Writer:<\/strong>\u00a0Steve Koppes
Media contact:<\/strong>\u00a0Maureen Manier,\u00a0mmanier@purdue.edu<\/a>
Sources:<\/strong>\u00a0Majid Kazemian,\u00a0kazemian@purdue.edu<\/a>; Ben Afzali,\u00a0ben.afzali@nih.gov<\/a>.
Agricultural Communications:<\/strong>\u00a0765-494-8415;
Maureen Manier, Department Head,\u00a0mmanier@purdue.edu<\/a>
Agriculture News Page<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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