Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered how to turn pro-inflammatory cells that boost the immune system into anti-inflammatory cells that suppress it, and vice versa.
In the study published yesterday, researchers focused on effector T cells, which activate the immune system to defend our body against different pathogens, and regulatory T cells, which help control the immune system and prevent it from attacking healthy parts of its environment.
According to Gladstone senior investigator Sheng Ding, Ph.D., who is also a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, this new approach to reprogram T cells is made possible by a small molecule, (aminooxy)acetic acid, that reprograms the differentiation of T helper 17 cells toward induced regulatory T cells. The group’s Nature paper describes in detail the metabolic mechanism that facilitates this conversion.
This discovery could have several medical applications, the team reports. In autoimmune disease, effector T cells are overly activated and cause damage to body. Converting these cells into regulatory T cells could help reduce the hyperactivity and return balance to the immune system, thus treating the root of the disease.
In addition, the discovery could improve stem cell therapies. At least in theory, producing regulatory T cells could promote immune tolerance and prevent the body from rejecting newly transplanted cells.
"Our work could also contribute to ongoing efforts in immuno-oncology and the treatment of cancer," explained Tao Xu, postdoctoral scholar in Ding's laboratory and first author of the study. "This type of therapy doesn't target the cancer directly, but rather works on activating the immune system so it can recognize cancer cells and attack them."