Tech Digest

Collaboration leads to immune system cells discovery

A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT between researchers in the Institute of Technology and the Academic Health Center has resulted in a new way to turn genes off in human T cells, a type of white blood cell that helps the immune system fight infections.

George Karypis, associate professor of computer science and engineering, was part of the team, including researchers
at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Translational Research (CIDMTR), Department of Microbiology, Department of Medicine, and Division of Biostatistics, that used a novel approach to combine molecular biology and Computational analysis to identify the mRNA sequence responsible for turning off T cells.

Researchers measured the rate of mRNA decay for each of the approximately 6,000 genes in human T cells.Karypis and his colleagues at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute then analyzed the data by using complex computer programs to identify a sequence present in mRNA that was destroyed rapidly in the cell.

Paul Bohjanen, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the CIDMTR and principal investigator of the study and his colleagues, performed molecular biology experiments to confirm that this sequence targets mRNA for destruction and was responsible for turning off genes in activated T cells.

To date, understanding the mechanisms that turn off cells has not been well understood. Turning off genes, through a process known as mRNA decay, is important to regulate the body’s immune response after fighting infection.

The discovery offers hope of finding treatments for autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and for improving transplant safety. It also has implications in the fight against cancer.