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Using the UT Southwestern Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility, researchers have for the first time captured images of autoantibodies bound to nerve cell surface receptors, revealing the physical mechanisms behind neurological autoimmune disease. The findings, published in Cell, could lead to new ways to diagnose and treat autoimmune conditions, the study authors said. “We are entering a new era of understanding how autoimmune diseases work in the central nervous system,” says Colleen M. Noviello, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at UTSW who specializes in obtaining cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). ) images up to atomic resolution. Dr. Noviello led the research with Ryan Hibbs, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Biophysics, Effie Marie Cain Scholar in Medical Research, and Investigator Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute and Harald Prüss of the Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Researchers have studied autoimmune diseases — a class of conditions in which the immune

picture: Autoimmune encephalitis occurs when antibodies or T cells go bad and attack the brain. In this study, UTSW researchers and colleagues from Berlin used cryo-electron microscopy to determine the atomic structure of autoantibodies bound to GABAA receptors. The receptor is an important protein in the brain and a target in autoimmune encephalitis. see again Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center *Click here to watch the video Using the UT Southwestern Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility, researchers have for the first time captured images of autoantibodies bound to nerve cell surface receptors, revealing the physical mechanisms behind neurological autoimmune disease. His findings, published in Cell, could lead to new ways to diagnose and treat autoimmune conditions, the study authors said. “We are entering a new era of understanding how autoimmune diseases work in the central nervous system,” says Colleen M. Noviello, Ph.D.,

CAMBRIDGE, MA – Receptors found on the surface of cells bind to hormones, proteins, and other molecules, helping cells respond to their environment. MIT chemists have now discovered how one of these receptors changes its shape when it binds to its target, and how that change triggers cells to grow and reproduce. This receptor, known as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), is overexpressed in many cancers and is the target of several cancer drugs. These drugs often work well at first, but tumors can become resistant to them. Better understanding the mechanism of these receptors could help researchers design drugs that can circumvent that resistance, said Gabriela Schlau-Cohen, a professor of chemistry at MIT. “Thinking about more general mechanisms for targeting EGFR is an exciting new direction, and gives you new avenues for thinking about possible therapies that may not develop resistance easily,” he said. Schlau-Cohen and Bin Zhang, Pfizer-Laubach Assistant Professor of Ca