Video

Traffic Pollution Can Inscreas Your Blood Pressure

A Texas Playground Caters Especially to Special Needs Children

BPA in Plastics May be Linked to Asthma

Communication Is Important When It Comes to Prostate Cancer

The Number of Home Births Has Gone Up

Which American Couples Are More Likely to Stay Together?

Workplace Wellness Can Help Reduce the Risk for Heart Problems

Some Parents May Hasten Death for Terminally Ill Children

Fitness Academics

Secondhand Smoke Increases Risk for Heart Disease in Kids

Toddlers Don't Learn Vocabulary From TV

Despite Worries, Most Parents Vaccinate Their Kids Anyway

Food Allergies Can Be Treated With the Allergen Foods

Signs of Heart Disease Could Be As Early as 3 in Obese Kids

The Number of Women Having Strokes is Rising

Scientists Find New Key to Lupus

Posted on 10/19/2009, 12:00
By --Randy Dotinga

Molecule identified in lab mice may cause autoimmune disease

MONDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've gained new understanding of how lupus develops in mice, a finding that could help future treatments for the autoimmune disease.

An estimated 1.5 million to 2 million people in the United States suffer from lupus, a disorder in which the body's defenses turn inward. The condition can cause symptoms similar to those of arthritis and rheumatic diseases.

At issue is the immune system's ability to take out the trash -- to get rid of cells that don't have long to live. "Just like in mice, in humans, if you don't clear the dying cells, then that predisposes you to lupus," said Lata Mukundan, a Stanford University School of Medicine researcher and co-author of a study published online Oct. 18 in the journal Nature Medicine.

"If you look at patients with lupus, they have an inability to clear those dead cells," Mukundan said in a statement.

The study authors report that they gained insight into how immune-system cells detect which other cells are dying in order to dispose of them. They looked at human and mouse cells outside the body and in genetically engineered mice.

The researchers suspected that a molecule known as PPAR-delta was crucial to the process. "We wanted to know, if you took a mouse and only deleted PPAR-delta from its macrophages, is that sufficient to cause an autoimmune disease?" asked Dr. Ajay Chawla, assistant professor of endocrinology and co-author of the study, in a statement. "Apparently it is," he said.

The researchers say currently existing drugs activate the molecule in question. Perhaps, they say, the drugs could treat lupus.

More information

Learn more about lupus from the National Institutes of Health.

SOURCE: Stanford University, news release, Oct. 18, 2009

More news in Arthritis...

BigHealthTree.com Disclaimer

Bighealthtree.com Does Not Provide Medical Advice. This site, including the above information, is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or health advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified health or medical professional before starting any new treatment, changing existing treatment, or altering your current exercise and/or diet program. If you think you are having a medical emergency, call 911 (or the emergency services in your area) or your doctor immediately.

Rating: 2.8 / 5 (51 votes)