A Cambridge University study finds that regulatory T cells can reduce the risks of organ transplants and promote hair regrowth.

Regulatory T cells were previously known to exist in specialized populations that function in limited areas of the body, but a University of Cambridge study published June 18th refutes this notion, revealing that regulatory T cells exist as a single population of cells that migrate throughout the body to repair damaged tissue.

Scientists from Cambridge University came to this conclusion after observing and analysing regulatory T cells in 48 different tissues in mice, demonstrating that the cells are not fixed or confined to a specific area, but rather travel throughout the body.

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“It's hard to think of a disease, injury or infection that doesn't involve some sort of immune response, and our findings really change the way we regulate this response,” said Professor Adrian Liston, lead author of the paper.

Liston called regulatory T cells a “unified healing army” that could potentially be used to treat many diseases in the future.

Using a proprietary drug, the researchers demonstrated that they could target regulatory T cells to specific sites in the body, increase their numbers, and ultimately activate them to block the body's immune response and promote healing in a specific area, allowing the body to heal itself locally while other parts of the immune system continue to function normally.

The discovery could aid in the development of drugs that can be targeted to specific parts or organs in the body, and would be particularly useful for enhancing anti-inflammatory drugs that currently act throughout the body, rather than just at the site of pain.

Regulatory T cells also promote hair regrowth by interacting with hair tissue stem cells and promoting their regeneration, which could help treat diseases such as alopecia, an autoimmune disorder in which hair follicles are destroyed, resulting in hair loss. This new discovery could help improve such existing mechanisms carried out by regulatory T cells.

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Another example is organ transplants: people who receive organ transplants take immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives to prevent their body from mounting a strong immune response to the transplanted organ, which makes them more susceptible to infections.

But the new findings could help develop drugs that block just the body's immune response to the new organ, reducing vulnerability to other diseases.

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Published: 24 June 2024 5:58 PM IST