Researchers find answers as to why the immune system attacks itself in Lupus patients

Sometimes determining why a disease occurs requires following one lead after another until all possibilities have been exhausted.  In the case of lupus, doctors and researchers have understood for years that the autoimmune disease results from the immune system attacking itself.  How and why this occurred, however, was more of a mystery.  One factor that influences this immune system disruption is B cell activities.  These B cells traditionally produce antibodies that fight off microorganisms and protect the body from illness and disease.  In those individuals with autoimmune diseases, these B cells become dangerous to the body, breaking down tissue and attacking the immune system.  What doctors and researchers wanted to know is why this occurs and what triggers these B cells to act out of the ordinary.

Swedish researchers decided to set out to find this control mechanism behind the B cell attacks.  The researchers focused on NKT cells because individuals with lupus traditionally have lower levels of these particular cells.  Prior to this study though, little was known about these NKT cells aside from the discrepancy in levels between lupus patients and healthy individuals.  The Swedish study found that these NKT cells can regulate whether B cells turn against the body’s own tissues reports PhysOrg.com.   Further, a decreased amount of NKT cells directly relates to irregular B cell responses, as in the case of lupus patients.

Conversely, the NKT cells can dissuade the B cells from attacking the body and therefore, an increase in these cells would do the body good.  In fact, the researchers added NKT cells during the study, which enabled them to fend off the B cell attack.  They also learned that increasing the NKT cells early on can really impede the unorthodox actions of the B cells.  What this means for lupus patients is that new treatment options may be developed that specifically address and help to increase the production of NKT cells, thereby limiting the harmful effects of B cells on the body.  Hopefully, determining this “control mechanism” will enable researchers to better understand how lupus operates and possibly how to treat the disease better.  Focusing on one particular factor may also alleviate the pain associated with many treatment options and limit the amount of drugs a person has to take.  It is default to understand a disease that appears to have no rhyme or reason; however, every single lead seems to get us closer to a cure.