New tool found for autoimmune diseases

JUPITER, Fla., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have developed a method of facilitating identification of molecules that prevent immune cells from attacking the body.

The Scripps Research Institute-led study describes a new method that identifies molecules that prevent a specific type of immune cells from attacking their host.

Scripps Professor Thomas Kodadek, who led the research, said the findings add a new tool to the search for treatments for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, as well as blood cancers.

Kodadek said he and his colleagues used samples from an animal model of multiple sclerosis to screen for T cells -- a type of white blood cell that plays a central role in the immune system. The screen also identified molecules that interfere with the T cells' "autoreactivity" -- their attack on the body, rather than a virus or bacteria.

"Our technique simultaneously uncovers and isolates autoreactive T cells as well as inhibitors to them," Kodadek said. "It's a double whammy. At the heart of this is a comparative screening process of normal T cells versus disease-causing T cells. While the process is technically complicated and difficult, the thinking behind it is not. We wanted to simplify the process of identifying compounds that could inhibit autoreactive T cells with exceptional specificity -- and we succeeded."

The study appears in the Nov. 25 issue of the journal Chemistry & Biology.