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Science 5 June 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5932, pp. 1282 - 1283
DOI: 10.1126/science.1175678
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Perspectives

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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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)