Menu Close

Secrets of immune system intelligence officers revealed under microscope

Scientists have for the first time seem the workings of T-cells, the front-line troops that alert our immune system to go on the defensive against germs and other invaders in our body.

The discovery overturns current understanding, identifying the exact molecular “switch” that spurs T-cells into action — a breakthrough that could lead to treatments for a range of conditions from auto-immune diseases to cancer.

The discovery showed what could be achieved with the new generation of super-resolution fluorescence microscopes, one of the authors noted.

The next step was to pinpoint other key proteins to get a complete picture of T-cell activity and to extend the microscope to capture 3-D images with the same unprecedented resolution.

Read more at Nature Immunology

Want to write?

Write an article and join a growing community of more than 180,400 academics and researchers from 4,911 institutions.

Register now