Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have discovered a single biochemical feature of disease-causing molecules (pathogens) that, if changed, would force them to provoke an attack by the human immune system.
The findings are likely to prompt a new body of research aimed at re-engineering viruses, bacteria and tumor cells to make them visible to the immune system and therefore capable of destruction.
Recognizing molecules as “self” rather than foreign invaders to be destroyed is a central responsibility of the immune system. Tumors closely resemble self or “host” tissues and can confuse the system. Viruses and bacteria are immediately recognizable as foreign, but have learned to change shape so often that the system loses track of them. Pathogens use the same tricks to escape the immunity provided by vaccines.
Researchers have for years been trying to discover why the body targets certain small pieces of each disease-causing molecule to trigger an immune response while ignoring the rest. In essence the workings of immunodominance.
Understanding of how immunodominance is conferred would enable vaccine designers to shift the immune system spotlight to parts of pathogens that they cannot change in efforts to escape detection. For example, a vaccine could be designed to target a protein fragment central to a virus’s ability to reproduce or to invade its prey.
This latest piece of research has identified for the first time the chemical mechanism that determines immunodominance, and proved that it can be fine-tuned. If confirmed, the findings could launch a new wing of research seeking to re-engineer viruses, bacteria and tumor cells to make them hundreds of times more likely to be noticed and destroyed by our immune system.