Nobel Laureate Bruce Beutler on molecular sensors as a trigger for autoimmune disease

Bruce Beutler, MD, a co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine, has coauthored an article describing a novel molecular mechanism that can cause the body to attack itself and trigger an autoimmune disease. The article is published online ahead of print in Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com) and is available free at www.liebertpub.com/jir

In the article, entitled “Intracellular Nucleic Acid Sensors and Autoimmunity,” Argyrios Theofilopoulos, Dwight Kono, Bruce Beutler, and Roberto Baccala, The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, California), review the scientific evidence that supports the role of molecular sensors located inside cells in the initiation not only of protective and inflammatory immune responses, but also in an autoimmune response. These sensors recognize nucleic acid signatures that may be shared by foreign pathogens and the body's own DNA and RNA.

Dr. Beutler is one of three recipients awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He shares half of the prize with Jules Hoffman, PhD for their discoveries related to how the body's immune system fights disease through the activation of an innate immune response. The third recipient, Ralph Steinman, MD, who died before the Nobel Prizes were announced, previously published an article in AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. congratulates the three winners for the work and contributions to medicine for which they are being recognized.

Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research, led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Ganes C. Sen, PhD, Chairman, Department of Molecular Genetics, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Thomas A. Hamilton, PhD, Chairman, Department of Immunology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly in print and online that covers all aspects of interferons and cytokines from basic science to clinical applications. Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research is the Official Journal of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research. Tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed online at www.liebertpub.com/jir

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Viral Immunology, AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, and DNA and Cell Biology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at www.liebertpub.com

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