Scientists affiliated with the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Diseases at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, have found that an enzyme involved in key metabolic processes also plays a role in the differentiation of immune cells and therefore in the development of autoimmune diseases.. This discovery could contribute to the future development of new treatments..

A study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine describes the role of PKM2 (pyruvate kinase M2), an enzyme responsible for the final stage of glycolysis, in the development and maintenance of inflammation typical of autoimmune diseases.

“In the study, we demonstrated that there is a link between cellular metabolism and the immune system..

It is becoming increasingly clear that enzymes and other metabolic molecules are important not only for cellular metabolism, but also for other functions such as the immune response.. In this particular case, we found that the PKM2 enzyme acts in parallel with the differentiation of Th17, a subtype of lymphocytes that triggers experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in an animal model of multiple sclerosis, ”says Jose Carlos Farias Alves Filho, one of the study authors..

https: // www. medikforum. ru /.

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