Autoimmune Disease Breakthrough Reported

U.S. scientists report a breakthrough in the effort to better understand what causes the body to attack itself in its war against autoimmune disease.

In some cases, the body’s immune system overreacts when it encounters invading viruses or bacteria, thus resulting in one or more autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or type 1diabetes.

Now researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Whitehead Institute, led by Richard Young and graduate student Dr. Alexander Marson, report discovering 30 genes that go awry in autoimmune diseases.

The researchers say two significant implications have emerged from their research. One is that we’ve identified this core set of genes that are probably likely to play key roles in preventing autoimmune … disease, said Marson. The second implication, which is maybe more long-term, is that we hope identifying these targets will allow us to … treat autoimmune disease.

The study appears in the journal Nature.