Immunology Uncaged

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Immunology Uncaged

Mitch

With a routine blood test, your doctor can ascertain how well your metabolism

handles lipids and whether you are vulnerable to heart disease. But don't expect

to get a test that reveals whether your immune system is working normally or

whether you are at risk for, say, autoimmune diseases. The reason: Researchers

still can't define what's normal for the immune system. Cardiologists can

specify healthy levels of LDL, HDL, and triglycerides, but immunologists can't

do the same for cytokines, key chemical messengers that trigger immune cells to

mature, divide, attack, or perform other actions. Researchers' reliance on mice

deserves some of the blame for this ignorance, immunologists say. The human and

mouse lineages diverged some 65 million years ago, and the rodent's immune

system has adapted to safeguard a small, short-lived animal that scurries around

with its nose in the dirt. However, nobody has cataloged the differences, and as

a result, inconsistencies between human and mouse immunity often leave patients

in the lurch.

Full story at

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/327/5973/1573?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/\

26-March-2010/10.1126/science.327.5973.1573

or http://bit.ly/9SsmAG

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