Word: attacked
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...attempt to find a more selective treatment for Type 1 diabetes, researchers are trying to figure out exactly why the immune system attacks the beta cells. Last October a Stanford University team discovered errant forms of a gene that controls the development and growth of the culprit T cells. The team's conjecture: in Type 1 diabetics, this gene produces a protein badge that differs slightly from the norm in structure, causing the immune system to attack the beta cells. Eventually, the group hopes to find a way to neutralize the harmful effects of the molecule and thus eliminate...
Another autoimmune disease, myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disorder that afflicts 15,000 Americans, is caused by antibodies that attack vital links in the nervous system, and leads to gradual loss of muscular control. Initial studies suggest that small doses of cyclosporine may be effective in blunting the symptoms of the disease. Some researchers, however, are searching for a more selective remedy that involves mass-producing antibodies that are specific to one antigen. These so-called monoclonal antibodies are designed to immobilize only those B cells that produce the antibodies responsible for the disease...
...feet), does more than just ingest the intruder. It has another, even more important function. On its surface, like virtually all body cells, the macrophage carries MHC (for major histocompatibility complex) molecules, protein badges that enable other immune cells to recognize the macrophage as friend, or self, and not attack it. After digesting the virus, the macrophage proudly displays strips of protein from the virus in the grooves of some of its MHC molecules. Once a bit of protein -- which is part of the virus's own identity molecule, or antigen -- is nestled in the groove of the macrophage...
...cells, call off the battle. As the carnage wanes, the B cells and T cells perform a last, vastly important task: they form memory cells that circulate in the bloodstream and lymph system for many years, primed to spring into action should the same strain of flu virus ever attack again. In addition, the body is protected by specialized antibodies, strategically deployed in mucus, saliva and tears, that immediately recognize any return of this particular virus...
...scientist at Sandoz, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, the drug was nearly abandoned as worthless. Unexpectedly, however, researchers found that it was a highly selective suppressor of helper T cells. By preventing the activation of the T cells, the drug interferes with the body's instinct to attack a transplanted organ. Yet unlike other suppressants, it does not affect other parts of the immune system. Cyclosporine is thus able to dampen the rejection reaction while leaving a large part of the body's infection-fighting defenses intact...