BCG can restore the normal immune response to islet cells

At the 75th scientific conference of the American Diabetes Association (http:// the researchers presented the clinical experimental results of BCG vaccine approved by FDA (http:// in the treatment of advanced type I diabetes Relevant data show that BCG can restore the normal immune response of the body to islet cells BCG vaccine can activate Treg cells permanently and prevent the immune system from attacking its own tissues The study was conducted by Denise faustman, Ph.D., from the laboratory of immunobiology, Massachusetts General Hospital "Many researchers are exploring the role of BCG in the treatment of autoimmune diseases" Denise "Previous work has shown that Treg can inhibit the development of type I diabetes and other autoimmune diseases by repairing its function," Dr faustman said "Our study shows that BCG can regulate the immune system through epigenetic modification, induce the activation of Treg, and then inhibit the attack of immune cells on the self." Type I diabetes is a kind of autoimmune disease The main cause is that the islet cells are attacked by auto reactive T cells Treg acts as a "brake" in the immune system and can prevent the wrong immune response Therefore, many researchers are trying to treat type I diabetes by inducing Treg activation However, no treatment has been approved BCG is based on a group of harmless bacteria (similar to those that can cause tuberculosis) Previously, the vaccine was mainly used to prevent the occurrence of tuberculosis, and recently it was approved for the treatment of bladder cancer At present, there are a lot of researches trying to find out the mechanism of BCG inhibiting autoimmune diseases "BCG can affect many aspects of the immune system, and it has experienced several decades of postgraduate entrance examination in clinical practice, so it is a very worthy research object," faustman said "Repeated use of BCG can up regulate the expression of Treg related diseases, so this harmless and cheap vaccine will have great potential to prevent the occurrence of autoimmune diseases.".