Nat commun: breakthrough! How does autoimmune nephropathy occur?

March 1, 2018 / biourn / - researchers at Monash University have uncovered a mystery about how specific immune cells work together to cause autoimmune nephropathy Photo source: Michael Hickey was led by Professor Michael Hickey and Richard kitching of the Research Center for inflammatory diseases of Monash University The relevant research results were published in nature communications, entitled "effector CD4 + T cells recognized in invasive antigen presented by dispatching disorders" "We have long known that glomerulonephritis (a kidney immune disease) causes immune cells to damage the kidney through the wrong inflammatory attack response." Professor Hickey said "But we don't know the process that causes these immune cells to change and start damaging glomerular blood vessels." Professor Hickey said a special cell called a monocyte would constantly patrol the glomerular vessels "We know that monocytes are very good at finding and removing rubbish They are former sentinels of infection and tissue damage, which are good for the body." Professor Hickey said "But in autoimmune diseases, some immune cells in the circulatory system are highly sensitive to molecules found in the kidneys Using advanced microscopes, we found that in this case, ex sentinel monocytes present these molecules to active immune cells in the blood, causing bad cells to remain in the kidney and initiate unnecessary and harmful immune attacks The autoimmune damage of the kidney will seriously affect the normal function of the kidney, especially if it is not treated " "Fortunately, this is not a common process, because some factors leading to glomerulonephritis have weakened or disappeared, including the production of such bad cells." Professor Hickey said Professor kitching, a nephrologist at Monash University and co-author of the study, said the damage only occurs when these cells move around the blood vessels of the kidney "Importantly, it has not been known that this process, called intravascular antigen recognition, is guided and controlled by key helper T lymphocytes." Professor kitching said Professor kitching said the findings will serve as a platform for further study of these processes, with the ultimate goal of finding more specific therapies for patients with kidney disease Reference: Clare L v westhorpe et al Effector CD4 + T cells recognize invasive anti presented by dispatching communications, nature communications (2018) Doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03181-4