Tue-03-05-2016, 16:32 PM
Quote:
Fertiliser or manure cells transform into war cells when they are repeatedly exposed to inflammatory mechanisms. This was written by the LUMC, the Leiden University Hospital, in the journal of Allergy and a clinical immunology.
This discovery can lead to new treatments of chronical diseases like allergies.
The immune system uses inflammation to fight invaders like viruses. When the system is not able to remove the threat, the inflammation mechanism stays active. This happens with auto immune diseases and allergies. This leads to a lot of damage to the tissue.
The medics/researchers wanted to know if immune cells with that kind of chronic diseases change after a while. They researched fertiliser (manure) cells: cells that are in contact with the outside world and are involved with allergic reactions. The fertiliser cells indeed appeared to transform after repeated exposure to inflammatory mechanisms. After this change they started to activate inflammatory molecules much stronger.
The researchers think that medication that reverses this change, can also reverse the symptoms of chronical immune diseases.