剑桥大学的科学家们发现，一种名为调节性T细胞的白细胞（regulatory T cell）以单个大细胞群的形式存在，它们不断游走于人体各部位，寻找并修复受损组织。

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have discovered that a type of white blood cell - called a regulatoryT cell - exists as a single large population of cells that constantly move throughout the body looking for, and repairing, damaged tissue.

目前的抗炎药物直接作用于全身，而不仅仅是需要治疗的部位。研究人员表示，他们的发现意味着可以关闭自身的免疫反应，并在不影响身体其他部位的前提下对任何特定部位进行损伤修复。这意味着更高效、更有针对性的药物剂量可以被运用于疾病治疗——起效也可能更快。

Current anti-inflammatory drugs treat the whole body, rather than just the part needing treatment. The researchers say their findings mean it could be possible to shut down the body’s immune response and repair damage in any specific part of the body, without affecting the rest of it. This means that higher, more targeted doses of drugs could be used to treat disease – potentially with rapid results.

“我们发现了免疫系统的新规则。这支‘统一的治疗部队’可以做任何事情——修复受损肌肉、使脂肪细胞更好地响应胰岛素、毛囊再生。一想到它能够应用于如此广泛的疾病治疗，我们真的觉得特别惊喜：它的潜力很大，几乎可以运用于一切疾病。”——剑桥大学病理学系的Adrian Liston教授，本文的高级作者说道。

“We’ve uncovered new rules of the immune system. This ‘unified healer army’ can do everything - repair injured muscle, make your fat cells respond better to insulin, regrow hair follicles.  To think that we could use it in such an enormous range of diseases is fantastic: it’s got the potential to be used for almost everything,” said Professor Adrian Liston in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Pathology, senior author of the paper.

为了取得这一发现，研究人员分析了小鼠体内48种不同组织中的调节性T细胞。这一发现表明，这些细胞并非专门化或静态的，而是会在身体内移动到需要它们的地方。该研究结果已发表在《免疫》期刊上。

To reach this discovery, the researchers analysed the regulatory T cells present in 48 different tissues in the bodies of mice. This revealed that the cells are not specialised or static, but move through the body to where they’re needed. The results are published today in the journal Immunity.

“难以想象有哪种疾病、损伤或感染不涉及某种免疫反应，我们的发现确实改变了我们控制免疫反应的方式。”

“It's difficult to think of a disease, injury or infection that doesn’t involve some kind of immune response, and our finding really changes the way we could control this response,” said Liston.

使用他们设计完成的药物，研究人员已经证明小鼠体内的调节性T细胞可以被吸引到身体特定部位去进行复制，并激活它们以关闭免疫反应，促进一个器官或组织的愈合。

Using a drug they have already designed, the researchers have shown - in mice - that it’s possible to attract regulatory T cells to a specific part of the body, increase their number, and activate them to turn off the immune response and promote healing in just one organ or tissue.

他补充道：“对于很多不同的疾病我们都希望能关闭免疫反应并启动修复发应，例如多发性硬化症等自身免疫疾病，甚至是许多传染病。”

He added: “There are so many different diseases where we’d like to shut down an immune response and start a repair response, for example autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, and even many infectious diseases.”

大多数传染病（如COVID）的症状并不是由病毒本身引起的，而是由身体的免疫系统攻击病毒引起的。一旦病毒过了高峰期，调节性T细胞应该关闭身体的免疫反应，但在一些人身上这个关闭过程并不太奏效，从而可能导致持续性的问题。新的发现意味着可以使用药物来关闭患者肺部的免疫应答，同时让身体其他部位的免疫系统继续正常工作。

Most symptoms of infections such as COVID are not from the virus itself, but from the body’s immune system attacking the virus. Once the virus is past its peak, regulatory T cells should switch off the body’s immune response, but in some people the process isn’t very efficient and can result in ongoing problems. The new finding means it could be possible to use a drug to shut down the immune response in the patient’s lungs, while letting the immune system in the rest of the body continue to function normally.

还有一个例子。接受器官移植的人们必须终身服用免疫抑制药物以防止器官排斥，因为人体会对移植的器官产生严重的免疫反应。但这也使他们极易受到传染病的威胁。新的发现有助于设计仅关闭身体对移植器官的免疫反应的药物，同时保持身体其他部位的正常功能，从而使患者能够过上正常的生活。

In another example, people who receive organ transplants must take immuno-suppressant drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent organ rejection, because the body mounts a severe immune response against the transplanted organ. But this makes them highly vulnerable to infections. The new finding helps the design of new drugs to shut down the body’s immune response against only the transplanted organ but keep the rest of the body working normally, enabling the patient to lead a normal life.

研究人员目前正在筹集资金成立一家孵化公司，旨在未来几年内进行临床试验，测试他们的研究成果在人体中的效果。

The researchers are now fundraising to set up a spin-out company, with the aim of running clinical trials to test their findings in humans within the next few years.

该研究得到了欧洲研究委员会（ERC）、惠康基金会（Wellcome）以及生物技术与生物科学研究委员会（BBSRC）的资助。

The research was funded by the European Research Council (ERC), Wellcome, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).