Inflammation is all about balance. Too little or too much inflammation leads to illness and even death.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists found a protein that helps keep that balance. The protein, named NLRP12, helps stop inflammation. The scientists showed how the protein works: It regulates production of chemical messengers that drive inflammation.
The amount of those chemical messengers increased in immune cells called T cells that lack NLRP12. Inflammatory diseases like colitis and atopic dermatitis were worse when T cells lacked the protein. T cells kill threats that are not eliminated by the body’s first line of defense—the innate immune system.
Other research from the lab of Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, PhD, of St. Jude Immunology, showed NLRP12 serves the same role in the innate immune system.
“Developing therapies to target NLRP12 might lead to new ways of taming T-cell driven inflammation,” she said. “That might provide relief for patients with a wide range of illnesses, including multiple sclerosis.”
The study appeared in the scientific journal Immunity.
April 21, 2015