Slowing Down the Immune System When in Overdrive

Tue, 02/11/2014 - 2:14pm

Many people suffer from chronic inflammation because their immune systems overreact to ‘self’ tissue. Sydney scientists believe that a small molecule known as Interleukin 21 is a promising therapeutic target in such cases.

Interleukin 21 (IL-21) is one of a group of chemical messengers known as ‘cytokines’, which affect the behavior of immune cells. IL-21 is already well known to play an important role in autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's syndrome and type 1 diabetes.






“When you remove the IL-2 gene, another group of very calming immune cells known as ‘T regulatory cells’ also disappear—because T regulatory cells express high levels of the IL-2 receptor and are IL-2 dependent. Without T regulatory cells, the immune system goes haywire and the body starts attacking itself.”

“Under these conditions, IL-21 kicks in and make things much worse.”

“When IL-21 is blocked, the huge inflammatory response is greatly subdued, although not entirely eliminated.”


Source: Garvan Institute of Medical Research



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