New approach needed to study autoimmune diseases

A research team has recently determined that the "Immune only" focus of the current research must be updated to better understand autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. A team of researchers led by the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute Diabetes Center's Scientific Director Decio L. Eizirik, MD, Ph.D., has found that identifying new treatments for autoimmune diseases requires studying together the immune system AND target tissues. Yet, during autoimmune diseases, the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys components of our body, which then causes, for example, type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, or rheumatoid arthritis. This indicated major common gene expression changes at the target tissues of the four autoimmune diseases evaluated.