With the help of an ingenious
protein hack, scientists have used
stem cells to grow new immune
systems in mice -- a technique that
could someday treat human autoimmune
diseases.
In a study published in
Science, Stanford University
researchers described how
blood-forming stem cells generated
new immune systems when injected
into mouse bone marrow. That wasn't
particularly surprising; the real
breakthrough took place before the
stem cell injections, when the
researchers erased the old immune
systems.
Duplicating this feat in humans is the holy grail of treatments for for autoimmune diseases, in which bodies are attacked by their own defense systems. But before that happens, more mouse work needs to be finished. The Stanford mice were engineered to possess non-functioning immune systems: they had the necessary components, but the system wasn't on-line.
The researchers must next make their technique work in fully functional mice. Then they need to figure out how to design human-specific antibodies, as the mouse antibodies targeted proteins not present in our own cells.
But if they can do this, the ramifications are enormous: an estimated 20 million Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Many other conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome and obesity, are suspected of having an autoimmune component.