Authors: Wallberg, Maja; Green, Elizabeth A.

Source: Inflammation & Allergy - Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets - Inflammation & Allergy), Volume 8, Number 2, June 2009 , pp. 130-138(9)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

Incidence of autoimmune diseases is rising rapidly in the developed world and treatment of such diseases will be a major burden on Government health resources of the future. Whether systemic or organ-specific, immune cell destruction of the target tissue normally requires co-operative interaction of a many distinct immune cells. Detailed knowledge of the cells and signal pathways involved in tissue destruction is paramount to the design of novel therapeutics. Several organ-specific autoimmune diseases e.g. multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes have long been attributed to T cell-mediated destruction of the target tissue. However, recent reports from both murine models and man have suggested that B cells are principal players in these T cell-mediated diseases. In this review, we discuss the evidence that supports a link between B cells and the autoaggressive T cell response in type 1 diabetes and how accumulating evidence suggests targeting B cells may offer a novel therapeutic strategy for this autoimmune disease.

Keywords: B Cells; Autoimmune Disease; Type 1 Diabetes; T cell-mediated diseases; rheumatoid arthritis

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/187152809788462572

Publication date: 2009-06-01

More about this publication?

• Inflammation & Allergy - Drug Targets aims to cover all the latest and outstanding developments on the medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology, genomics and biochemistry of contemporary molecular targets involved in inflammation and allergy e.g. disease specific proteins, receptors, enzymes, genes. Each issue of the journal contains a series of timely in-depth reviews written by leaders in the field covering a range of current topics on drug targets involved in inflammation and allergy. As the discovery, identification, characterization and validation of novel human drug targets for anti-inflammation and allergy drug discovery continues to grow, this journal has become essential reading for all pharmaceutical scientists involved in drug discovery and development.

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