More Amazing Research Developments

[CallMeSunny]

(Copied from a Thyroid UK post)

Found: the dial in the brain that controls the immune system

Scientists identify the brain cells that regulate inflammation, and pinpoint how they keep tabs on the immune response.

Scientists have long known that the brain plays a part in the immune system — but how it does so has been a mystery. Now, scientists have identified cells in the brainstem that sense immune cues from the periphery of the body and act as master regulators of the body’s inflammatory response.

The results, published on 1 May in Nature1, suggest that the brain maintains a delicate balance between the molecular signals that promote inflammation and those that dampen it — a finding that could lead to treatments for autoimmune diseases and other conditions caused by an excessive immune response.

The discovery is akin to a black-swan event — unexpected but making perfect sense once revealed, says Ruslan Medzhitov, an immunologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Scientists have known that the brainstem has many functions, such as controlling basic processes such as breathing. However, he adds, the study “shows that there is whole layer of biology that we haven’t even anticipated”.

Rest of this article available here - but NOT the actual paper which is firmly behind a paywall.

nature.com/articles/d41586-.

[springcross]

Thanks CallMeSunny but all I got was Page Not Found!

[CallMeSunny in reply to springcross]

Oops..sorry. I think the main gist of it is as shown.

[cyberbarn]

Here is the link for the lay article in Nature:

nature.com/articles/d41586-...

I have read the actual paper, and we have to remember that this work was done IN MICE. (sorry for the capitals, but in mice is a meme that scientists use).

So whilst this is an interesting paper on the pathways of inflammation and how they can go wrong, there is a long way to go because there is no guarantee that the same thing is happening in the same way in humans.

[CallMeSunny in reply to cyberbarn]

Thank you for the link, cyberbarn and the reminder about the extent of the research. However, at least the scientists are doing this work…..a low rung of a rather tall ladder….but it is a start and it is ongoing.