From a New Atlas online article:

Scientists have just discovered a new mechanism that can be key in regulating these immune attacks, raising new hopes of drugs that can protect against joint inflammation and the ailments it can bring.

Through the use of the CRISPR gene-editing tool, the Karolinska Institutet scientists have now shed further light on the role they play in inflammation. The technology enabled the team to make adjustments to a set of hand-picked immune cell genes as a way of learning how those tweaks can impact the behavior of the cells.

“The results we obtained using CRISPR were key to quickly understanding how the system under study is regulated,” says Dr Wermeling. “I have high hopes that the experimental use of CRISPR will be hugely important to our understanding of how immune-cell behavior is regulated, and that this can guide us in the development of new efficacious drugs.”

https://newatlas.com/medical/newly-understood-protein-raises-hopes-of-advanced-arthritis-treatments/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=68b0bd3225-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_01_21_02_40&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-68b0bd3225-93002753