MICHEL32NL AT NL.WIKIPEDIASalt may play an important role in autoimmune diseases, according to two new papers published today (March 6) in Nature. Exposure to high levels of salt was found to make both cultured mouse and human T cells more pathogenic, and high-salt diets worsened autoimmune disease in mice.
“I thought the papers were very exciting and provocative,” said John O’Shea, a doctor at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), who wrote a Nature commentary accompanying the new findings and was not involved in the study.
Lawrence Steinman, a neurologist and immunologist at Stanford School of Medicine, who was also not involved in the work, said, “I think it’s beautiful research looking at the pathways that feed to one of the major types of autoimmune cells.”
The first research team, based at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Broad Institute, came to investigate salt in a roundabout way. Some forms of T helper cells, called T helper 17 (TH17) cells, have been implicated in a ...
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