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Science 324 (5932): 1282-1283

Copyright © 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Immunology

Amino Acid Addiction

J. Magarian Blander1, and Derk Amsen2

Arguably the most exciting cell in the immune system these days is the T helper 17 (TH17) cell. Much of the interest stems from its prominent role in autoimmune-related pathologies, such as multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis (1). On page 1334 of this issue, Sundrud et al. report that a small molecule called halofuginone specifically inhibits the generation of TH17 cells, without affecting other CD4+ T cell types (2). The mechanism involved has potentially important implications for understanding how the immune system prevents untoward generation of harmful TH17 cell responses.

1 Immunology Institute, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA.
2 Department of Cell Biology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

E-mail: julie.blander{at}mssm.edu; d.amsen{at}amc.nl

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