When fighting disease, our immune cells need to reach their target quickly. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) now discovered that immune cells actively generate their own guidance system to navigate through complex environments. This challenges earlier notions about these movements. The researchers’ findings, published in the journal Science Immunology, enhance our knowledge of the immune system and offer potential new approaches to improve human immune response.
Immunologic threats like germs or toxins can arise everywhere inside the human body. Luckily, the immune system-;our very own protective shield-;has its intricate ways of coping with these threats. For example, a crucial aspect of our immune response involves the coordinated collective movement of immune cells during infection and inflammation. But how do our immune cells know which way to go?
A group of scientists from the Sixt group and the Hannezo group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) addressed this question. In their study, published today in Science Immunology, the researchers shed light on the immune cells’ ability to collectively migrate through complex environments.
Dendritic cells -; The Messengers
Dendritic cells (DCs) are one of the key players in our immune response. They function as a messenger between the innate response-;the body’s first reaction to an invader, and the adaptive response-;a delayed reaction that targets very specific germs and creates