A paper published in Nature on 24 May 2012 shows how some drugs can cause side-effects by activating the immune system to attack the body’s own tissues.
The paper reports research from the labs of James McClusky at The University of Melbourne, Jamie Rossjohn at Monash University, Scott Burrows at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) and John Miles of Cardiff University in Wales. The researchers used the MX2 (micro-crystallography) beamline at the AS to solve the crystal structures that form the basis of this work. They found that the drugs carbemazepine (mainly used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder) and abacavir (for treating HIV and AIDS) can bind to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules in a particular way and fundamentally change the binding properties of the HLAs so that they recognise the body’s own peptides. Once "self-peptides" are recognised, the body is triggered to start attacking its own tissues – leading to immune-mediated side-effects. This groundbreaking work shows exactly how these side-effects are caused and will lead to new drugs that are specifically designed NOT to bind to HLAs.
The Nature paper can be found here:
Right: crystal sample mounted on the MX2 micro-crystallography beamline, which caters for difficult crystals and small molecules.