Editing Errors: Penn Study Finds Reduction in Antibody Gene Rearrangement in B Cells Related to Type 1 Diabetes, Lupus; Implications for New Tests and More Personalized Treatments for Autoimmune Diseases.

(From AScribe)

PHILADELPHIA -- More drafts usually mean a better product and so it also seems to go with the human immune system. As B cells develop, genes rearrange to allow antibodies to recognize different foreign invaders or pathogens. But sometimes antibodies are created that recognize and attack the body's own cells. These self-reactive antibodies, like early drafts of a manuscript, must be edited into safer versions. This process is called receptor editing and is important for central or early B cell tolerance, which occurs while B cells are still developing in the bone marrow. A research team led by Nina Luning Prak, M.D., Ph.D, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has discovered that this editing process may go …