Novel Approaches to pathogenesis, diagnosis &treatment of autoimmune diseases based on new insights into thymus-dependen

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

An individual relies upon their immune system to protect against invasion by hostile organisms. The system usually works well. Invading agents (the 'non-self') are detected and attacked by the immune system's patrolling killer T cells. These normally beneficial cells are called T cells because they were formed and educated in an organ called the thymus, which kick-starts our immune system in childhood, but falls into inactivity by adolescence. Sometimes the education system in the thymus goes wrong and it releases T cells that mistakenly attack 'self' instead of 'non-self'. This causes autoimmune diseases, such as type1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. The Euro-Thymaide project aims to determine why and how self-attacking T cells are mistakenly released from the thymus into the body. Usually such errant T cells are detected and destroyed within the thymus, before they have the opportunity to escape and cause autoimmune diseases. The ultimate objective is to learn about the thymus recognition process and help the immune system detect and destroy faulty T cells that patrol the body, thereby preventing the onset of autoimmune diseases.