Immunity: protein signal molecule guiding cells to goal (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, September 15, 2018, 16:03 (2262 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

"In order to investigate the effect of CCL17 on the function of neurons, scientists in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Christian Henneberger at the Institute of Cellular Neurosciences (University of Bonn Medical School) examined neuronal signaling in the brain. Henneberger: "The experiments indicate that CCL17 attenuates signal transmission in the hippocampal region of the brain." Since autism in humans is also associated with elevated levels of CCL17 in the blood, CCL17 could also play a role in this developmental disorder, for example due to an infection or an allergic reaction in early childhood. "But so far these are speculations," says Förster. "The exact effects of CCL17 have yet to be demonstrated by further research.'"

David: Comment: Obviously the brain exert effects on all sorts of bodily functions. Obviously designed. A half-formed immune system is not much of a defense against dangerous infections.

Tony: I'm curious as to how they 'knocked out' CCL17. That could be a bigger clue to the rise in Autism and some allergies than the role of CCL17 itself.

David: The method as described above: "As a next step, the scientists blocked the gene for CCL17 production and observed the effect. In the absence of the chemokine, the microglial cells in these "knockout" mice were significantly smaller." The 'knockout the gene' approach is used now all the time to show effects, by absense.

Tony: Yes, I am just curious as to how they suppressed it, as that might be gene therapy for autistic children or those with hyper-active allergy responses.

They probably used CRISPR to slice out the gene.