Transplant recipients have to take immunosuppressive drugs that make them vulnerable to infections of all sorts. BLyS may be able to help such patients maintain an immune system that is capable of combating infectious disease. Many bacterial infections that are resistant to treatment with antibiotics are able to persist because of an inadequate immune response. BLyS may be able to improve immune defenses in such patients. In addition, it is possible that BLyS protein may be useful when combined with vaccines.
Vaccines work, in part, by inducing the production of antibodies that recognize invading organisms.
Used as a vaccine adjuvant, BLyS may enhance the effectiveness of a wide range of vaccine candidates by stimulating B cell production and so strengthening the immune response to the vaccine. For decades, scientists sought a biological signal that stimulates immune-cells called B cells to become plasma B cells, which produce antibodies. Because biological signals are often secreted proteins, HGS scientists were studying a group of about 400 human proteins in the HGS database whose DNA sequences suggested that they were secreted. Each protein was purified and tested for the ability to stimulate B cell growth. One protein, BLyS, had a powerful effect on B cells.