A new study has suggested a novel way of combating diseases related to the immune system, including cancer and autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and type 1 diabetes. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, appears online in the journal Nature.

T cells are produced by the body to fight infection. Scientists previously identified two types of T cell, both produced in the thymus: 'effector T cells', which attack infected cells, and 'regulatory T cells', which suppress the immune system, protecting the body from inflammatory damage during infection. Regulatory T cells, if given to individuals receiving transplants, may help suppress the rejection response.

Now, a team of researchers has discovered a novel mechanism determining whether a maturing T cell is likely to emerge from the thymus as an effector cell or a regulatory cell. The research suggests that new treatments could be developed to deliberately affect the type of T cells produced, allowing scientists to tackle a number of diseases that are influenced by these different types of T cells.

Led by Professor Adrian Hayday, the research was carried out at the King's College London School of Medicine at Guy's Hospital.

Image credit: Dr Jeremy Skepper, transmission electron micrograph of a Jurkat T-cell in the early stages of apoptosis.

See also

• Press release

External links

• 'Early events in the thymus affect the balance of effector and regulatory T cells' by Daniel J Pennington et al