Danger Dust

A Berlin-led research team has uncovered critical regulators of severe kidney damage in patients with lupus, an autoimmune disorder affecting an estimated five million people worldwide, most of which are young women. A small, specialized population of immune cells — called innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) — trigger an avalanche of effects that cause harmful kidney inflammation, also known as lupus nephritis.

The research, published in Nature, upends conventional wisdom that autoantibodies — proteins produced by immune cells that mistakenly attack healthy tissues — are primarily responsible for lupus nephritis.

While autoantibodies are required for tissue damage, they are by themselves not sufficient. Our work reveals that ILCs are required to amplify the organ damage.