Scientific article review - Essay Example

Scientific Article Review The immune system is one of the bodies most important functions, as well as one of the bodies still most mysterious. However, great scientific advancements are being made, as can be read about in several different articles. One article deals with the immune system and its part in MS. It discusses several new important breakthrough in figuring out why the immune system attacks the brain and spinal chord, and how this can be contained. One important new breakthrough is the discovery of "T-regs", a cell that regulates T-Cells (Inner Conflict).

These cells stop T-Cells from jumping to attack, and can be helpful in stopping T-Cells from attacking body self cells. The Tregs of people with MS don't function as well as those of people who do not have the disease. Currently, research is being done as to why this is, and what can be done about it( Inner Conflict). Another filed of research is in using hormones to help slow down the advancement of the disease. Using estriol, a form of estrogen on women, and Androgel, a testosterone gel on me, seems to help slow down the brain tissue loss from the disease, as well as improving in bodily functions(Inner Conflict).

Another huge development in the immune system field was the discovery of a Orai 1, a protein that controls the immune system's calcium channel(An Immune). This protein has been looked for for decades, and finally finding it has sparked great interest. If drugs were developed that could block this protein for example, a drug could combat the effects of many different types of autoimmune diseases. Also, scientists hope that this could also lead to being able to further manipulate the immune system in transplants, hoping to be able to stop the side effects of transplants, as well as transplant rejection(An Immune).

T-Regs have also been shown to be quite important in keeping the immune system in check. More recent studies in both human and mice have shown just how important the T-Regs are in keeping the immune system in check. It seems that the "immune system is on a immune system appeared to "be on a hair trigger, prepared to assault gut bacteria and held in check only by T-regs."(Peacekeepers). Several different experiments have shown just how important these cells are in regulating and keeping the immune system of the body in check and from attacking itself.

Discovery of these cells, and learning about them, is the key to helping various autoimmune diseases. If scientists can fully understand how T-Regs work, and how come they don't function in different people, they can manipulate and hopefully be able to keep the immune system from attacking itself, as in autoimmune diseases, or other "self" body cells, such as in MS and arthritis. Research also hints that these cells may help keep pregnancies in check. Studies have been shown that at this time, T-Regs become much more active, because the baby is in fact "half of the man" it is "half not self" of the women's body.

The T-Regs expand in number to help protect the fetus. If the T-Regs are taken out of the equation, the immune cells heavily at tack the fetus, causing destruction. It is quite possible even, that the lack of T-Reg cells could explain some cases of random abortions with mothers(Peacekeepers). The body has already set up a way to control the immune system, with T-Regs. It is in these cells that the hope for us to be able to control the immune system lies. T-Regs are a great ally in the fight against many diseases and immune system disorders.

Many different ways to administer and boost this cell is under research, and great hope lies in these little cell's ability to help fix many human immune system(as well as other) problems.(Peacekeepers). References"Peacekeepers of the Immune System" Fehervari, Zoltan, Sakaguchi, and Shiman, Scientific American(October 2006)--Volume 285--Issue 4--page 56--8 pages long."An Immune Portal" by Interlandi, Janeen--from Scientific American--July 2006--Volume 295--Issue 1--page 20--3 pages long."Inner Conflict: The Fight to Regulate the Immune Systems in MS" by Schacter, Bernice--from Inside MS--Aug/Sep 2006--Volume 24--Issue 4--page 42--5 pages long.