A research team composed of Academician Cao Xuetao from the Institute of Immunology of the Second Military Medical University and Associate Professor An Huazhang from the State Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology revealed the new mechanism of antiviral immune response regulation. This new scientific discovery adds new ideas for human beings to effectively regulate antiviral immune response, and may propose new targets for antiviral immunotherapy. On June 5 5- 10/October 5, 2007, the research paper was published in Immunology, an authoritative academic journal in the international field of immunology.

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National "973" Immunology Project, the research team discovered a signal transduction molecule called "protein phosphatase 2" for the first time in view of Toll-like receptors and immunomodulation, an international hotspot in immunology. By binding the kinase activity domain of "protein kinase molecule 1", its kinase activity can be inhibited, so it can specifically and significantly inhibit the macrophage activated by Toll-like receptor from producing inflammatory cytokines and type I interferon, and then negatively regulate the antiviral immune response of the body, which adds a new understanding to the regulation mechanism of antiviral immune response, and suggests that "protein phosphatase 2" may become a new target of antiviral immunotherapy.

"Protein phosphatase 2" was discovered in 1993 by internationally renowned China molecular biologist Professor Feng Gensheng, and Professor Feng Gensheng strongly supported this research work. Taking this molecule as the target, it can regulate the production of type I interferon, which opens up a new way to effectively treat immune-related diseases such as viral hepatitis and lupus erythematosus.