Research could help fight infection better
23 June 2006
Medical Research Council Scientists at Birmingham have overcome a key hurdle in working out how to maintain the body's immune system into older age.
The researchers at the MRC Centre for Immune Regulation and the Institute for Biomedical Research at Birmingham University have discovered how the cells that form a gland in the chest called the thymus - thymic epithelial cells - are produced to help the maintenance of the immune system.
Professor Graham Anderson, one of the leaders of the research explained "The thymus plays a fundamental role in the body's defences. It helps the immune system recognise viruses and bacteria by influencing the development of T cells. It does this by using epithelial cells to change the shape of T cells in our blood stream. The shape of T cells determines their ability to recognise and fight bacteria and infections. But the thymus also produces T-cells which stop the immune system from attacking the body's own tissues."
Professor Eric Jenkinson, Head of MRC Centre for Immune Regulation added: "We didn't know precisely where epithelial cells came from - if they were produced from one or two sources. Our research has shown that epithelial cells come from the same cellular source. This was a fundamental stumbling block to clinicians who've been looking at how to regenerate the thymus in older people or for those who've been sick because both types of epithelial cells are essential to the immune system. We now need to find out if the single source for epithelial cells is present in adults."
The full paper can be found on the Nature site (you need to be a subscriber): http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v441/n7096/full/nature04813.html
