Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered that regulatory T cells form a single, mobile population that patrols the entire body to repair tissue damage. This new understanding could revolutionize the treatment of various diseases by enabling targeted immune suppression and tissue regeneration in specific organs, potentially improving the effectiveness and speed of treatments. The team is now working towards clinical trials to further explore these findings.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have found that regulatory T cells, a kind of white blood cell, form a single, large group that continuously circulates throughout the body to seek out and repair damaged tissues. This overturns the traditional thinking that regulatory T cells exist as multiple specialist populations that are restricted to specific parts of the body. The finding has implications for the treatment of many different diseases – because almost all diseases and injuries trigger the body’s immune system.
Current anti-inflammatory drugs treat the whole body, rather than just the part needing treatment. The researchers say their findings mean it could be possible to shut down the body’s immune response and repair damage in any specific part of the body, without affecting the rest of it. This means that higher, more targeted doses of drugs could be used to treat disease – potentially with rapid results.
Prof Adrian Liston and Dr James Dooley, senior authors on the study, use micros.
