More than two decades ago, a research team in the lab of David Hafler, a Yale researcher who at the time was at Harvard, discovered a type of T cell in humans that suppresses the immune system; they later found that these so-called regulatory T cells , when defective, are an underlying cause of autoimmune disease , specifically multiple sclerosis (MS). For many years, however, the mechanism behind this dysfunction has remained unclear. In a new Yale-led study, a team of researchers finds that this loss of immune regulation is triggered by an increase in PRDM1-S, a protein involved in immune function, triggering a dynamic interaction of multiple genetic and environmental factors, including high salt uptake.
The findings, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine , also reveal a new target for a universal treatment for human autoimmune disease. The research was led by Tomokazu Sumida, an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), and Hafler, the William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor of Neurology and professor of immunobiology at Yale.
"These experiments reveal a key underlying mechanism for the loss of immune regulation in MS and likely other autoimmune diseases," said Hafler, who is also chair of Yale's Department of Neurology. "They also add mechanistic insight into how Treg [regulatory T cells] dysfunction occurs in human autoimmune diseases." Autoimmune diseases, among the most common disorders of young adults, are known to be affected by gen.