News Article on T Cells and Lyme Treatment

[LymeEnigma]

U.S. scientists say they've identified a group of natural killer T cells that play an important role in fighting Lyme disease.

Led by the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology and Albany Medical College, the researchers said their finding -- based on a mouse model of the disease -- demonstrates white blood cells are central to clearing the bacterial infection and reducing the intensity and duration of arthritis associated with Lyme disease.

Read the full article:

www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/12/10/Some_T_cells_linked_with_Lyme_disease/UPI-80171228927923/


*edited to fix typo.

[LymeEnigma]

Here is another article on the same study; this one goes a little more in-depth:

www.huliq.com/11/74074/researchers-identify-cell-group-key-lyme-disease-arthritis

*editing to add a quote:

In an earlier study published in Nature Immunology, Kronenberg, Sellati and co-workers had shown that a glycolipid, a type of fat, found in the membrane of Borrelia burgdorferi triggered an immune response from the NK T cells. "We had found that if you gave that lipid to mice or humans, it would activate NK T cells," Kronenberg said. While this suggested the cells might play a significant role in Lyme disease, "we were missing in vivo (in the body) evidence showing that the NK T cells were activated following infection and were important for killing and clearing the Lyme disease bacteria," he said, noting that the latest study demonstrates this in an animal model.