Scientists study autoimmune triggering

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have discovered autoimmunity can be triggered if T cells fail to recognize just one of the body's thousands of proteins as "self."

University of California-San Francisco researchers say the finding confirms an emerging view that autoimmunity can start in the thymus, where the immune system's T cells develop, and not only at the sites where autoimmune diseases emerge -- such as the pancreas in the case of type 1 diabetes or the joints in rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Mark Anderson, assistant professor of medicine and senior author of the paper, said the discovery, from a mouse model of a human autoimmune condition, suggests effective strategies to treat autoimmune disease should target not only the "peripheral" sites where autoimmune disease is active but also the thymus.

The research appears online in the Journal of Experimental Medicine and will appear in the journal's Nov. 27 print edition.