Researchers Discover How Dangerous Immune Reactions Are Prevented by Dying Cells
Source: Thailand Medical News Jan 12, 2020 5 years, 9 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 16 hours, 27 minutes ago
Human cells that die in the body can keep the
immune system in check, thus preventing unwanted
immune responses against the body's own tissues. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center have now identified a receptor on murine
immune cells that activates this protective mechanism and can thus prevent dangerous
autoimmune reactions in which the
immune system attacks the patient's own body tissues.
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Typically, billions of cells die every day in the human body and this occurs as part of a highly regulated process called
apoptosis or programmed cell death. The
dying cells confront the
immune system with large amounts of proteins, which ought to activate an
immune response, but the
apoptotic cells seem to actively suppress the
immune system so that it does not attack the body's own tissues.
Dr Peter Krammer, an
immunologist at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) told
Thailand Medical News, "We began wondering many years ago what kind of protective mechanism prevents
autoimmune reactions ie the body attacking its own tissues when cells in the
immune system, such as dendritic cells, take up the remains of the
dead cells."
Dr Krammer, his colleague Dr Heiko Weyd, and their team recently found an answer to the question: As soon as
apoptosis is triggered, the
dying cells transport proteins from the
annexin family to the cell surface. The
annexins act like a stop signal for the cells of the
immune system and prevent an
immune response from being triggered.
Dr Kevin Bode from Krammer's department has now identified the dectin-1 protein as the annexin-binding receptor on the surface of dendritic cells: Dectin-1 recognizes the annexins and triggers a signaling pathway in dendritic cells that ultimately suppresses the
immune response.
It was seen that mice that do not have any dectin-1 on the surface of their dendritic cells showed a stronger
immune response to dying, apoptotic cells. Moreover, the mice without dectin-1 developed signs of
autoimmune diseases in old age.
The researchers from DKFZ thus discovered an important control mechanism for the i
mmune system's 'self-tolerance'. "But we assume that the body has other protective functions to prevent
autoimmune reactions too. That's why the loss of dectin-1 in the animals does not become apparent until later in life," Dr Bode explained.
Dr Peter Krammer a
dded, "Interestingly, dectin-1 has a dual role. Dectin-1 not only binds annexins; it also binds certain pathogens at a different binding site. This has the opposite effect and triggers an
immune response. We thus identified a crucial immune checkpoint which, depending on the binding partner, either triggers or suppresses the
immune response.”
A major key link in the dectin-1 signaling pathway is the enzyme NADPH oxidase 2. People who lack this enzyme develop
autoimmune diseases. In cooperation with the Children's Hospital Zurich and Heidelberg University Hospital, the DKFZ researchers are therefore currently examining blood samples from patients lacking NADPH oxidase 2 to find new starting points for potential treatments.
It has been seen that
autoimmune diseases have a hugely detrimental impact on patients' lives and in some cases are even life-threatening. In order to develop effective treatments, it is therefore vital to know which mechanisms suppress the
immune responses to a patient's own body tissues or in contrast activate them. By establishing the interaction between
annexin on the surface of dying cells and dectin-1 on the dendritic cells, Bode and his colleagues identified a key mechanism that prevents
autoimmune reactions in healthy body tissues. In doing so, they have found an interesting starting point for future drug treatments.
Though the interactions between annexin and dectin-1 were initially identified in a Petri dish, the scientists needed an animal with all the diversity of the various components of the immune system to demonstrate that the bond between these two proteins actually suppresses autoimmune reactions.
Reference: Kevin Bode, Fatmire Bujupi, Corinna Link, Tobias Hein, Stephanie Zimmermann, Diluka Peiris, Vincent Jaquet, Bernd Lepenies, Heiko Weyd and Peter H. Krammer: Dectin-1 binding to annexins on apoptotic cells induces peripheral immune tolerance via NADPH oxidase-2. CELL Reports DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.086.
