Our immune system is made up of multiple smart defenses built into our bodies – but if those defenses go haywire, it can lead to diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Scientists may have found a new way to control potentially dangerous autoimmune responses.
A team from Harvard Medical School at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the US developed a special probiotic that was able to regulate the activity of dendritic cells. These cells play a crucial role in managing immune cell responses.
When the probiotics were placed into the guts of mice with induced conditions similar to MS, autoimmunity was suppressed in key regions in the brain. If the treatment works in humans, it could help with some of the most damaging diseases that currently exist.
