Your immune system’s balance may now be restored without harm

To treat your immune system seems like balancing on a tight rope, but now, it can be a walk on the safest bridge. 

In a study published in the journal Immunity in March 2025, scientists discovered that blocking a key enzyme can restore balance in the immune system without detrimental side effects, marking a step towards a better and safer approach in therapies. 

The discovery was found while examining the  function of regulatory T cells in chronic inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis—a common genetic autoimmune disease triggered by environmental factors. 

T cells are a type of white blood cells that regulate the immune response of the body when in contact with infections. So, when a person acquires bacteria, viruses, or fungi, as well as cancer cells, these will help your body fight against it. 

However, T cells collapse when inflammation happens, such as when psoriasis occur; dropping their regulatory function, and further leading to uncontrolled response and progression of diseases. 

To understand why it happens, scientists traced the whole mechanism of such a process and found out that an enzyme called SSAT or spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase plays a huge part in the malfunction of regulatory T cells.

“We were able to show that the loss of the anti-inflammatory function of regulatory T cells is caused by a malfunction of the cellular metabolism,” MedUni Vienna’s Department of Dermatology, CeMM and study leader Georg Stary said. 

With this new information, the scientists used a mouse model with psoriasis-like disease to identify what will happen if they block the SSAT enzyme after the inflammation occurs. 

It turns out that once the key enzyme is stopped, there will be no drop in immunity balance anymore. Hence, specific drugs that inhibit SSAT have huge potential as an alternative to current treatments that have risky approaches. 

“Since other chronic inflammatory diseases of the skin or other organs are also characterised by impaired immune regulation, our approach could be important beyond psoriasis,” says Georg Stary, in the prospect of further studies to advance the development of a treatment option with fewer side effects.

As scientists continue to bridge the gaps in curing diseases, there will be treatment options that provide greater precision and safety so that we will no longer balance on a tight rope and instead, take a walk in a bridge of medicinal hope.