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| Laurie Harrington, Ph.D. |
University of Alabama at Birmingham June 26, 2018
In preclinical experiments, Laurie Harrington, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have discovered a subset of immune cells that create and sustain chronic inflammatory bowel disease. These cells could become potential therapeutic targets to ameliorate or cure Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Furthermore, if this subset of CD4 T cells plays a similar role in other autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis, they could also be targets for therapy.
"We think these cells could be in a number of auto-inflammatory diseases," said Harrington, an associate professor in the UAB Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology. "Our hope is, if we could treat these cells, it could be curative."
Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, has two forms: Crohn's disease, which can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract but most often occurs in the lower small intestine; and ulcerative colitis, found in the large intestine and rectum. In both, prolonged inflammation damages the GI tract, accompanied by symptoms that include persistent diarrhea and abdominal pain.
IBD is an autoimmune disease caused by a dysfunctional immune response, yet the mechanisms of how the immune cells cause chronic inflammation and pathology are unknown. In IBD, the cytokine interferon-gamma is abundantly produced by a type of immune cells called CD4 T cells, yet there is conflicting information about the role of interferon-gamma in the disease.
IBD is an autoimmune disease caused by a dysfunctional immune response, yet the mechanisms of how the immune cells cause chronic inflammation and pathology are unknown. In IBD, the cytokine interferon-gamma is abundantly produced by a type of immune cells called CD4 T cells, yet there is conflicting information about the role of interferon-gamma in the disease.
Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, has two forms: Crohn’s disease, which can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract but most often occurs in the lower small intestine; and ulcerative colitis, found in the large intestine and rectum.
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