Type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis are just two particularly devastating examples of autoimmune disease, in which the body's white blood cells mistake its own tissues as invaders, and attack the pancreas and the joints, respectively. Now researchers at the University of California, Irvine, school of medicine have demonstrated that two natural compounds—one extracted from sea anemones, the other from a plant known as the rue shrub—can, in a chemically modified form, suppress the killer instinct of the cells that mount autoimmune attacks without harming other white blood cells.

The research was originally triggered by an anecdotal report that a patient with multiple sclerosis—another autoimmune disease—had benefited from, of all things, being stung by a scorpion. The effect was traced to a compound known as SL5, which comes not only from scorpion venom but also from the Cuban sea anemone. Clinical studies showed the compound could help rats with a MS-like disease, and led to the current research, which is so far limited to trials in rats and on immune-system cells in test tubes. But pre-clinical safety studies are now under way on both SL5 and the rue-plant extract, PAP-1, in preparation for possible human trials.

What it means: Time after time, scientists have discovered novel, disease-fighting compounds, not in laboratories but in the natural world. Ecologists keep thumping on the theme of biodiversity—preserving natural habitats to preserve the myriad species that live within them—in part for this very reason. So while it's fine to save the planet just to save the planet, there are other, much more selfish reasons to do so.

From the Archive:

Dec. 8, 2003: A Body Making War on Itself
Feb. 23, 2004: The Fires Within