Body’s Own DNA Coupled With A Peptide Ignites Immune Response Usually Aimed At Fighting Infection

A human peptide that acts as a natural antibiotic against invading microbes can also bind to the body’s own DNA and trigger an immune response in the absence of an infection, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in an early online publication in Nature.”This combination of the peptide and self-DNA activates the same immune response pathway as a virus does,” says senior author Michel Gilliet, M.D. [click link for full article]

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Filed under: Dermatology on September 20th, 2007