Elimination of a molecular gatekeeper leads to the development of arthritis in mice, scientists report in a study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. The newly discovered gatekeeper is a protein that determines the fate - survival or death - of damaging cells that mistakenly attack the body's own tissues and lead to autoimmune disorders such as arthritis.
Better understanding how arthritis develops will offer scientists an opportunity to explore new types of treatments for patients whose arthritis has not been effectively treated with current therapies.
"This finding is an encouraging step forward for researchers, clinicians and arthritis sufferers, many of whom fail available therapies," said lead researcher Frances Lund, Ph.D., professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "An added bonus is that this finding may help in the search for new treatments for other autoimmune disorders, such as lupus."
The protein at the center of the new finding, known as Gαq (G alpha q), is part of a larger signaling pathway that Lund and collaborators from across the United States and China investigated in mice. Gαq regulates B cells, one type of immune cell that the body maintains to fight off invaders like bacteria, viruses and parasites. While most B cells help defend the body, some B cells are autoreactive - they turn against the body's own tissues.
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