Researchers at St. Jude have revealed the mechanism underlying the activation of regulatory T cells, which could spark new drug development.
Immunologists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered key biological switches that control regulatory T cells—specialized white blood cells that keep the immune system in check. A paper detailing this work was published today in Immunity.
“Understanding the mechanisms that govern regulatory T cells opens up an array of options for drug development,” said corresponding author Hongbo Chi, Ph.D., of the St. Jude Department of Immunology. “By boosting or suppressing the activity at the right time, you could develop treatments for cancer or autoimmune disorders.”
In their studies, the researchers traced the molecular machinery controlling a biological switch called mTORC1 that activates regulatory T cells. Until this work, that machinery had been a mystery.
Read more at: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
In the lab of Hongbo Chi, PhD (right), Hao Shi, PhD, and Nicole Chapman, PhD discovered a possible way to manage immune responses. (Photo Credit: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital)