A new study jointly completed by Professor Li Zhanguo’s team from Peking University People’s Hospital and Professor Yang Guang’s research team from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences-Human cytomegalovirus changes the homeostasis of natural killer cells and can induce autoimmune diseases. Cell Host Microbe" published. This research answers the question of the common mechanism between cytomegalovirus and some autoimmune diseases for the first time in the world. Assistant Researcher Liu Yu, Chief Physician Mu Rong, and Senior Experimenter Gao Yaping are the co-first authors of the paper.
According to Li Zhanguo, human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) is a cytomegalovirus that can infect people and cause disease. It often lurks silently in the human body. Even if the human body has a strong immune system, it cannot be killed or eliminated. Once the body's immunity declines, it becomes active, replicates and invades the human body wantonly, leading to the occurrence of autoimmune diseases. According to data from the American Autoimmune-Related Disease Alliance, about one in six people suffer from autoimmune diseases. In my country, autoimmune disease is one of the 10 major diseases listed in the national medium and long-term scientific and technological development program.
According to Mu Rong, previous studies have found that human cytomegalovirus is related to the onset of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS), but the mechanism is unclear. The study used phage display technology to find a new specific antibody from RA, SLE and pSS serum, which may be induced by the pp150 protein in hCMV. The surface markers of natural killer cells (NK) are divided into two groups: CD56bright and CD56dim. The anti-pp150 antibody can recognize the tumor suppressor protein CIP2A on the surface of CD56bright natural killer cells (NK), induce complement-dependent cytotoxicity, kill human CD56brightNK cells, and lead to a decrease in NK cells in the patient. The imbalance of NK cells leads to autoimmune diseases An important mechanism of pathogenesis.
This study proved that hCMV can induce low-intensity persistent inflammation by affecting the homeostasis of NK cells, deepen the understanding of the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, and discover new potential therapeutic targets. Reasonable treatment of group diseases is of great significance
