Dendritic Cells are key cells in the immune system that present antigens to T cells. Dendritic Cells can present proteins from infectious agents or from the body’s own tissues and organs. Inflammatory presentation of self-tissue proteins can lead to autoimmune disease in a certain proportion of the population Dendright’s researchers have shown that manipulating Dendritic Cells to silence rather than to activate the immune system very effectively turns off immune responses to given antigens. The technology has been applied to show that it can indeed suppress validated animal models of autoimmune diseases like Rheumatoid arthritis.

The research team, led by Professor Ranjeny Thomas discovered that by turning off a key molecule, Dendritic Cells could be changed from an activating phenotype to the phenotype that silences the immune system in an antigen-specific manner. In other words, the vaccine works at a molecular level to “re-train” the body’s immune system to respond to antigen.

At present, Dendright is focusing its research on a therapeutic vaccine for rheumatoid arthritis – an incurable disease affecting close to one per cent of the population. However, the company’s technology has the potential to develop Dendritic cell vaccines targeting other autoimmune diseases.

What are dendritic cells?
Dendritic cells are specialised white blood cells that initiate and direct our body’s immune response by presenting antigens from pathogens such as bacteria and viruses to T-Cells.