Autoimmune Disease Treatment May Not Dampen Immune System
Targeting a key protein might reap rewards for people with asthma, MS, scientists say
Further, Rose noted that, in general, inflammation serves a useful, healthy purpose, immunologically speaking, and dampening it down might have undesirable effects. For example, there might be diseases or infections that could thrive in the absence of DR3 signaling.
One such case is tuberculosis, which can become active in individuals treated with TNF receptor blockers. Siegel said he is now testing to see whether the immune response to TB, or any other kind of infection, is weaker in mice without DR3 than normal mice.
A pair of recent studies -- one from the University of Miami and the other from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Biogen Idec in Cambridge, Mass. -- separately established a role for DR3/TL1A in both asthma and multiple sclerosis. The current study establishes that, in fact, the molecules do play a role in both diseases, said Siegel.
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