Dr. Megan Levings‘ (General Surgery) recent paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation is featured in the Faculty of Medicine’s Link newsletter. Dr. Levings studies an immune cell called Tregs which usually prevent the autoimmune attacks that lead to such conditions as type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. However, relatively little is known about how Tregs work and why they sometimes fail to do their job. In this study, the Levings lab found Tregs make proteins called chemokines that attract potentially harmful immune cells, leading to their inactivation. Furthermore, Tregs from children with type 1 diabetes produce fewer chemokines than Tregs from healthy children. This suggests that problems with Treg function play a role in the development of diabetes.
“This finding could help us develop new therapies that prevent or treat autoimmune disorders and tissue rejection by ensuring Tregs are making enough chemokines to work correctly,” Dr. Levings said.