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The components of happiness fight against diseases
Laughter is the best medicine – has long been claimed by the people. No wonder, because who laughs is happy and who is happy releases hormones of happiness. An international research team recently discovered that one of the building blocks of happiness hormones actually strengthens our immune system and even helps fight disease.
Researchers from the Molecular Biotechnology Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) and the Boston Children's Hospital at Harvard have recently demonstrated a whole new way of fighting autoimmune diseases, asthma, allergies and even cancer. Research is focused on a building block through which the body produces happiness hormones, serotonin and dopamine. The study team discovered that this component also activates the defense cells of the immune system. The results of this work have recently been published in the famous journal "Nature".
What do killer cells and happiness hormones have in common?
The killer cells (T cells) of our immune system, as well as serotonin and dopamine, need the same building block to function. The international research team has identified tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), a molecule of the happiness hormone, as the basic activator of our defense cells. "What is fascinating in our discovery, is that a system known in neurobiology can play as important a role in the immune defense of T cells," said IMBA's director, Josef. Penninger, in a press release.
Independently fight cancer
What the body is capable of has recently been demonstrated by a new approach in which its immune system is activated in a targeted way in order to independently fight against cancer cells in the body. These results were awarded by the Nobel Prize in Medicine. To deepen their understanding of the immune defense, its activation and the metabolic processes involved, Penninger's team has taken a closer look at the biology of immune cells and has identified new possibilities for versatile medical applications.
Totally new and wide application possibilities
"This new approach links two completely different systems in our body and differs from all previously known immune control points," Penninger said. This opens up a wide range of therapeutic options that can be used, for example, against inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, allergies, skin diseases or cancer.
BH4 prepares soldiers of the immune system to fight
BH4 has been known to scientists for some time. The molecule is known to be involved in many metabolic processes. What is new, however, is that BH4 also controls the growth of T cells that act as "soldiers of our immune system". According to the researchers, this process goes through the metabolism of iron. This is also the reason why people with iron deficiency or anemia often suffer from immune problems.
How our immune system works
The IMBA research team explains more clearly the defense process of the immune system: "T cells patrol our body and expose pathogens or degenerated cells that could become tumors. activated: it starts to multiply and starts to fight. However, this could lead to misinterpretation, as incorrectly activated T cells begin to attack the body's cells. This event can cause allergic reactions and autoimmune diseases.
Targeted control of the immune system
"Autoimmune diseases and allergies are some of the most common emerging diseases in the world and treatments are urgently needed," says Penninger. In the new approach to autoimmune diseases, BH4 must be inhibited so that T cells are not placed in a constant attack mode. As a result, they would stop destroying healthy tissue or causing chronic inflammation. The first clinical trials of the new drug QM385, which is said to be inhibiting BH4, are already underway.
The process is reversed to fight against cancer
The opposite is the case of cancers, where the promotion of BH4 can help the immune system to better detect and target cancer cells. The first tests on mice have already shown that BH4 helps the rodent fight tumors. "If you can find cross-connections of different biological systems in the body, as in this case the nervous system and the immune system, you can sometimes make amazing discoveries," summarizes their findings. (Vb)
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