People living with immune system disorders like HIV / AIDS,
multiple sclerosis, and arthritis may soon be able to control
their immune responses, thanks to a breakthrough discovery
by a University of British Columbia researcher.
Wilfred Jefferies, a professor at UBC’s Biotechnology Laboratory,
has discovered and characterized the mechanics of a cellular
pathway that triggers immune responses. He and his team have
also uncovered a specialized cell substructure, or organelle,
that dictates exactly how the immune system will be activated.
"This discovery opens the door to the immune system
control room," says Jefferies, who is also a member of
UBC’s Biomedical Research Centre. "We’ve found
a mechanism that appears to act like a dial — it can turn
immune system response up or down."
Jefferies believes that it will take about five years for
scientists to use this information to create new therapies
— such as medication or vaccines — to regulate immune responses
in humans.
The findings have enormous implications for patients because
treatment may be targeted by adjusting the "dial",
says Jefferies. Immune responses may be increased to fight
infection or reduced to help the body accept transplanted
tissue or organs.
The work was recently published on-line in Nature Immunology
and will be the topic of an editorial when the journal appears
on newsstands in November.
The research findings can be used immediately to test exactly
how the immune system responds to a variety of pathogenic
organisms, including bacteria, viruses and tumours, says Jefferies,
who is a member of UBC’s departments of Microbiology and Immunology,
Medical Genetics and Zoology.
Jefferies’ research focuses on dendritic cells. A network
of specialized cells, dendritic cells act as sentinels of
the immune system, detecting and relaying information about
illness-causing organisms or pathogens. Jefferies and his
team have identified a new organelle within dendritic cells
that sorts pathogens without being harmed by them and controls
signals given to the immune system. The signals turn immune
responses up or down, according to the type of pathogen encountered.
The immune system protects the body from potentially harmful
substances such as microorganisms, toxins, cancer cells, and
blood or tissues from another person. Immune system disorders
are conditions where the immune response is over-active, reduced
or absent. About 50 million people suffer from autoimmune
disease such as arthritis and diabetes in the U.S. alone.
The research team includes UBC graduate students Greg Lizee,
Jacqueline Tiong, Meimei Tian and Kaan Biron as well as post-doctoral
fellow Gene Basha.
This work was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Foundation
for AIDS Research.
UBC researchers, who conduct more than 5,225 investigations
annually, attracted $377 million in research funding in 2002
/ 2003.
NB. Editors: Electronic images of Dr. Jefferies as well
as dendrite cells are available. A brief biography is attached.
Wilfred Jefferies
Prof. Wilfred Jefferies completed his PhD at Oxford University
after obtaining a BSc from University of Victoria in British
Columbia.
He completed research training at centres that include Sweden’s
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, part of the Karolinska
Institute, one of Europe’s largest medical universities,
as well as at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer
Research. In 1989, he was recruited to UBC by the late Michael
Smith, 1993 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.
Jefferies’ work has explored the function of a brain
protein called melanotransferrin that plays a key role in
iron transport in central nervous system. He and colleagues
discovered a link between the action of this molecule and
Alzheimer’s disease.
Another area of interest is looking at how the immune system
detects aggressive cancer cells and how viruses become recognized
by host lymphocytes. He has been involved in using TAP genes
to resurrect the immune response in patients with metastatic
tumours and the development of new tumour vaccines.
The author of numerous publications, Jefferies is funded
by major agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research, the National Cancer Institute of Canada and the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
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