Immune Regulation
The immune system is designed to protect against infections, but can itself be a cause of disease if it mistakenly and aggressively attacks the body's own tissues or harmless substances that enter the body. This can cause either autoimmune disease such as type I diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, some forms of anaemia or kidney failure, or result in allergy/asthma. Diseases of these types are becoming increasingly common in developed countries, with up to 25% of some populations affected. Treatment can be very difficult, and current approaches are either palliative or limited to non-specific immunosuppressive drugs such as steroids, which are frequently ineffective, leave the patient vulnerable to infection, and can cause serious side effects. Unwanted immune responses can also cause reactions to blood groups, including those arising from blood mismatches between mother and foetus, and transplant rejection.
Conversely, disease may result if the immune system fails to respond adequately to infections such as viruses, or to tumours.
What is needed is are specific approaches to treatment that selectively and safely modulate only the relevant responses and leaves the rest of the immune system intact. Such an approach became possible following the discovery of 'regulatory T-cells' that control immune responses, but fundamental questions need to be resolved. There are a number of projects based at the University of Aberdeen aimed at answering these questions and exploiting the results to develop novel, effective forms of treatment for immune based diseases.