Harnessing power of immune system may lessen reliance on ... - Science Daily
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have found that the body's process of removing old and damaged cell parts, is also an essential part of tackling infections that take hold within our cells, like TB. If this natural process can be harnessed with new treatments, it could present an alternative to, or improve use of antibiotics, especially where bacteria have become resistant to existing drugs. In their study, published in Nature Microbiology today, ahead of World TB Day on the 24 th March, the team studied genes key to bacteria's ability to evade autophagy, a pathway that cells use to destroy themselves when they are under stress or infected. They engineered human immune cells called macrophages from specialist stem cells called induced pluripotent stem cells, which have the ability to become any cell type in the body. They then used genome editing tools to manipulate the macrophages ability to perform autophagy. When genes key to autophagy were removed and the