3D rendering of a cell. The staff of Blausen.com. The medical gallery of Blausen Medical is here. The journal of medicine has 2 articles. There is a DOI:10.15347/wjm. The year 2002 The CC BY-SA is 4.0.
B cells, which are present in the blood stream, were thought to be mainly used to make antibodies and present antigens to help with the immune response to pathogens. A research team at the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital is studying the protective roles that B cells may play. The group has observed that mature B cells from the blood can be used to speed up wound healing and protect the brain in mice.
A novel mechanism that they call pligodraxis was discovered in a follow-up study published in the FASEB Journal. Within one to two days after introduction into an injured site, these therapeutic B cells release a complex mix of specific pro- and anti- inflammatory molecules, which can in turn affect the surrounding cells, and ultimately facilitate healing.
The lead author of the study and investigator at VIC says that it is beneficial to keep an open mind about what certain cell types can do or not. We would have missed the ability of B cells to respond in such a complex way and interact with many different cell types in their environment if we hadn't looked at them.
These changes in B cell function occur via signaling pathways that are usually involved in responses to infections, indicating a useful repurposing of the existing tools in the cells' repertoire. The result is a reduction in the expression of inflammation-associated proteins, as well as an increase in factors associated with proliferation, remodeling and protection from oxidative stress. The findings show how B cells can support tissue repair following injury.
The director of the VIC at MGH says that the results are very exciting and that they set as their core mission to accelerate the process by which discoveries are translated into new immunotherapies to address human disease in the clinic. "This particular discovery opens the way towards B cell immunotherapy for a variety of injury settings, from traumatic brain injury to diabetes."
Ruxandra F. Srbulescu and her team show how B cells support the repair of injured tissues by adopting MyD88 dependent regulatory functions and phenotype. There is a DOI: 10.1096/fj. 202101095RR.
The FASEB Journal has information.
Research shows B cells can help fight infections, speed skin wound healing, and protect the brain after an injury.
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