{"id":527,"date":"2013-05-03T19:39:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T19:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/?p=527"},"modified":"2026-02-25T20:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:12:22","slug":"upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2013\/05\/03\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\/","title":{"rendered":"Upregulation of RCAN1 causes Down syndrome-like immune dysfunction (Contributed by Dr. Melanie Pritchard)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>People with Down syndrome (DS) (trisomy 21) have impaired immune function making them susceptible to infections and autoimmune disease. The molecular cause for this impairment is undetermined. Using mice we have found that an excess of RCAN1, a protein expressed at higher than normal levels in DS, adversely affects key immune functions, and that an excess of RCAN1 leads to suppression of the immune system. Our findings are of clinical relevance to DS and may also find application in situations in the non-DS population where suppression of the immune system is desirable; for example, in autoimmune disease or graft versus host responses. (<a href=\"http:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2013\/05\/02\/jmedgenet-2013-101522\">http:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2013\/05\/02\/jmedgenet-2013-101522<\/a> )<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People with Down syndrome (DS) (trisomy 21) have impaired immune function making them susceptible to infections and autoimmune disease. The molecular cause for this impairment is undetermined. Using mice we have found that an excess of RCAN1, a protein expressed at higher than normal levels in DS, adversely affects key immune functions, and that an [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2013\/05\/03\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Upregulation of RCAN1 causes Down syndrome-like immune dysfunction (Contributed by Dr. Melanie Pritchard) - JMG Contact blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2013\/05\/03\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Upregulation of RCAN1 causes Down syndrome-like immune dysfunction (Contributed by Dr. Melanie Pritchard) - JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People with Down syndrome (DS) (trisomy 21) have impaired immune function making them susceptible to infections and autoimmune disease. The molecular cause for this impairment is undetermined. Using mice we have found that an excess of RCAN1, a protein expressed at higher than normal levels in DS, adversely affects key immune functions, and that an [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2013\/05\/03\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-03T19:39:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T20:12:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HuiQiQu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/03\\\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/03\\\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hqqu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be0250f8d5b52412c3e7c222dabd591b\"},\"headline\":\"Upregulation of RCAN1 causes Down syndrome-like immune dysfunction (Contributed by Dr. Melanie Pritchard)\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-03T19:39:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-25T20:12:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/03\\\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":122,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/03\\\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/03\\\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/03\\\/upregulation-of-rcan1-causes-down-syndrome-like-immune-dysfunction\\\/\",\"name\":\"Upregulation of RCAN1 causes Down syndrome-like immune dysfunction (Contributed by Dr. Melanie Pritchard) - 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