A human T cell under a scanning electron microscope. (credit: NIAID/NIH)
The human immune system—the powerful, complex network of cells that watches over and defends the body—just got a new weapon: autocorrect.
According to a report in Science, researchers were able to reverse an autoimmune disorder in mice by engineering certain healthy immune cells to weed out faulty ones. The method behind the treatment involves chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and is identical the method used in an experimental therapy for certain types of leukemias and lymphomas which has so far proven successful in some small human trials. While researchers will need to do much more work to prove that the strategy holds up against autoimmune disorders in humans, the authors argue that its track record of beating cancers is reason to be optimistic.
"Our study effectively opens up the application of this anti-cancer technology to the treatment of a much wider range of diseases, including autoimmunity and transplant rejection," coauthor Michael C. Milone, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said in a news release.
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