Transcription Factors Indicate Potential Drug Target For Autoimmune Disease
In a step toward developing drugs against autoimmune disease, George Washington University researchers have identified proteins called transcription factors as a “vital component” in determining the function of immune T cells. GWU’s Weiqun Peng, an associate professor of physics, and PhD candidate Zhouhao Zeng collaborated with University of Iowa immunologists to determine what gives rise to different types of T cells. Healthy people have CD4, or helper T cells, and CD8, or killer T cells, in a certain range of ratios, but people with autoimmune disease or viral infections have them in skewed proportions.
“If something goes wrong in the CD4/CD8 mix, our ability to fight off infections and diseases is compromised,” Zeng said.
Transcription factors affect a cell’s transcription patterns, regulating gene expression. In the case of T cells, Peng’s research shows that the transcription factors Tcf1 and Lef1 activate genes in a pattern that preserve killer T cell identity. If this transcription pattern is disrupted, the cells become more like helper T cells, GW Today reported. This previously unknown function of Tcf1 and Lef1 represents a potential drug target for autoimmune disease.
“But if biomedical scientists can develop strategies to turn on/off the T-cell differentiation pathway, we might be able to make drugs that hit the molecular target” and reinforce our immune systems,
” Zeng said.Earlier this year, St. Jude researchers discovered that the oncogene c-Myc can control asymmetric division in T cells, which causes them to divide not into two identical effector or memory T cells, but into one of each. Changing the concentration of the oncogene can influence the levels of each type of cell, which can potentially lead to improved cancer treatments.