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New Immune Cell Exit Strategy Discovered

Posted on: Monday, 5 March 2007, 09:00 CST

U.S. scientists have determined immune cells recruited to sites of infection can use more than one type of molecule to exit the bloodstream.

Minoru Fukuda and colleagues at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, Calif., say their discovery might have implications for researchers seeking to treat inflammatory diseases by blocking lymphocyte entry into damaged tissues.

Traveling at the speed of blood flow, immune cells called lymphocytes move rapidly through blood vessels. After infection or injury, they travel to the site of damage and need to exit the blood vessel system. Lymphocytes use a protein called L-selectin to recognize and grasp specific types of complex sugars called O-glycans displayed on inflamed blood vessel walls.

Fukuda and colleagues showed that in mice, lymphocytes also recognize exit signs on sugars called N-glycans. Whether human lymphocytes behave similarly has not been determined but if they do researchers seeking to treat inflammatory diseases need to target more than one lymphocyte exit strategy.

The research is explained in the April issue of the journal Nature Immunology.

Source: United Press International

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