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Body's Immune System can be Redirected

Posted by michael on from the detour dept.

Ridgelift writes "BBC News have this story of a key chemical signalling system, called Notch, which governs how our body develops immune cells. By pre-treating patients who are about to undergo an organ transplant, it's possible to 'redirect' the immune system so it does not launch an attack on the donor organ. This may soon eliminate the need for transplant patients having to take a lifetime of powerful immunosuppressive drugs that have many unwanted side-effects."

3 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Multiple Sclerosis by xplenumx · · Score: 5, Interesting
    But this could yield unwanted side-effects - an artificially "too strong" or "too weak" immune system should have the same problems: either attacking everything, including you possibly (stronger one) or not attacking what it should at all (weaker one).

    You're confusing "too strong" and "too weak" with specificity. Autoimmune diseases result from the immune system attacking the wrong target (self). Having a given autoimmune disorder does not provide a boost in defending against cancer or an attack by a pathogen.

    Immune suppressive drugs work by non-specifically decreasing the immune system as a whole. Immune suppressive drugs work by a method totally foreign to the immune system and parallels to how the immune system is regulated in a healthy individual can not be made.

    I'm not that familiar with CD8+ suppressor T cells, however the jury is still out regarding if CD4+CD25+ suppressor cells are target specific or non-specific (data to support both).

    The immune system is far more complicated that you're making it out to be.

  2. Excellent news for type 1 diabetics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Although they've more or less gotten pancreas/islet cell transplants working, the major drawback (besides costs and availability of donors) was the fact you were simply trading insulin injections for anti-rejection drugs. The anti-rejection drugs had their own problems, which made this a less than ideal situation. Many people were hoping they'd come up with a way of making "cloned" islet cells from yourself so that your body wouldn't reject them.

    Additionally, it's possible they could "fix" a type 1's immune system so it doesn't kill off the islet cells again anyway. And for newly diagnosed type 1's, they could potentially stop it in its tracks, and prevent any further islet cell loss.

  3. Commercial prediction by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When this drug hits the market, and they show commercials with heart transplant recipients dancing in meadows and gathering flowers, the gentle voice doing the voiceover will recite the following disclaimer:

    If your immune system is not normal because of advanced HIV disease, make sure your doctor knows this to avoid a potentially serious complication."

    Gee, sounds like a good idea!