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Scoop.it!
RT @RIRDF: NIH Scientists Identify a New Immunodeficiency Disease http://t.co/CP96Q4OVcI 
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Scoop.it!
Human T cell function declines with age, reducing the ability of vaccines to protect the elderly against infectious disease. Scientists have identified a protein that may represent a target for the design of drugs capable of re-energizing the immune system in elderly people. It’s well recognized that as we age our immune systems become weaker, and less effective at beating chronic infections and, critically, responding to potentially life-saving vaccination. Current approaches to improving vaccine responses are focused primarily on antigen presentation by increasing antigen dose. However, Stanford University School of Medicine investigators have now found that blocking the dual-specific phosphatase DUSP6 in naive CD4+ T cells in elderly people allows the cells to respond in a much more sprightly manner to presented antigens.
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Link to the Nature Immunology Paper: http://www.nature.com/ni/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ni.2771.html ;
The study has identified a novel immunodeficiency disease called PASLI, its underlying genetic cause, and a promising, targeted treatment that is already FDA-approved for other purposes. The discovery of PASLI disease also contributes to our understanding of the immune system and highlights the role of PI3K-p110 delta and mTOR in immunity.