Michigan State University scientists have received a $2.3 million, five-year National Institutes of Health grant to help uncover why an omega-3 fatty acid, known as DHA, is so effective in stopping a known trigger of lupus.
Previous MSU research has shown that consuming DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, which is found in fatty, cold-water fish, can stop the onset of lupus when the disease is caused by a toxic mineral that’s inhaled and typically found around construction, agriculture and mining sites.
It’s still unclear, though, how the natural fatty substance prevents the disease from forming.
“When lupus is triggered by fine inhalable particles called crystalline silica in the lungs, our earlier research has shown that DHA essentially stopped the activation of the disease,” said James Pestka, a University Distinguished Professor of food science and human nutrition.
He is leading the new study with MSU co-investigators Jack Harkema, a pulmonary pathologist and Jenifer Fenton, a nutritional biochemist.
According to Harkema, the DHA could be changing the way these cells react to the silica in the lungs and somehow stops the immune system from overcompensating and going after healthy cells too.
One theory the researchers have is the DHA could help cells send a signal to the body so it won’t overreact and tell the immune system to attack beyond what’s needed. Another thought is somehow the DHA allows the cells to swallow up and remove the toxic silica from the lungs without dying, preventing any inflammatory signals from being sent throughout the body.
Michigan State University scientists have received a $2.3 million, five-year National Institutes of Health grant to help uncover why an omega-3 fatty acid, known as DHA, is so effective in stopping a known trigger of lupus.
Previous MSU research has shown that consuming DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, which is found in fatty, cold-water fish, can stop the onset of lupus when the disease is caused by a toxic mineral that’s inhaled and typically found around construction, agriculture and mining sites.
It’s still unclear, though, how the natural fatty substance prevents the disease from forming.
“When lupus is triggered by fine inhalable particles called crystalline silica in the lungs, our earlier research has shown that DHA essentially stopped the activation of the disease,” said James Pestka, a University Distinguished Professor of food science and human nutrition.
He is leading the new study with MSU co-investigators Jack Harkema, a pulmonary pathologist and Jenifer Fenton, a nutritional biochemist.
According to Harkema, the DHA could be changing the way these cells react to the silica in the lungs and somehow stops the immune system from overcompensating and going after healthy cells too.
One theory the researchers have is the DHA could help cells send a signal to the body so it won’t overreact and tell the immune system to attack beyond what’s needed. Another thought is somehow the DHA allows the cells to swallow up and remove the toxic silica from the lungs without dying, preventing any inflammatory signals from being sent throughout the body.
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