In light of the concerns circulating amid the recent coronavirus outbreaks, it has become even more apparent how critical a greater understanding of the human immune system needs to be. Thankfully, a team of investigators at the Flanders Institute For Biotechnology (VIB) has unraveled a key molecular mechanism behind the inflammatory response which could be extraordinarily helpful in treating diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn’s disease, and psoriasis. The VIB team discovered how the protein A20 prevents inflammation and autoimmunity, not through its enzymatic activities as has been proposed, but through a non-enzymatic mechanism.
