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posted by chromas on Sunday April 22 2018, @11:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the redeemed-to-protect dept.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180412141052.htm

In a world first, scientists from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research have revealed how a population of 'bad' antibodies in the immune system -- which are usually 'silenced' because they can harm the body -- can provide crucial protection against invading microbes. The research was carried out in mice.

The 'bad' antibodies are known to react against the body's own tissues and can cause autoimmune disease. For this reason, it was once thought that they were discarded by the immune system or that they were made inactive in the long term. However, the new findings show for the first time that 'bad' antibodies go through a rapid 'redemption' process and are activated when the body is faced with a disease threat that other antibodies cannot tackle.

As a result, the 'redeemed' antibodies no longer threaten the body, but instead become powerful weapons to fight disease -- and particularly diseases that evade the immune system by disguising themselves to look like normal body tissue.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aao3859 [DX]


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  • (Score: 1) by Cinnamon Beige on Monday April 23 2018, @11:18PM

    by Cinnamon Beige (6449) on Monday April 23 2018, @11:18PM (#670934)

    The DX link takes you to the paper itself. If you don't have access to Nature, well...you've the DOI, that's all you need to work around that problem. Science Daily is probably good if you want more details, but don't have a bio* background--though since it's in Nature it may not require you have much of one.