Researchers have discovered that mast cells, a type of immune cell, engage in auto-digestion during allergic reactions by trapping and digesting other key immune cells. This process may help scientists understand the root causes of health conditions involving allergies or the immune system.
Certain immune cells backstab their cellular coworkers during allergic reactions. Mast cells, the security patrols of the immune system, can trigger allergic inflammation when they run into unfamiliar proteins (SN: 9/5/07). For the first time, researchers have seen these overeager cells attract and trap other key immune cells, then expel their hostages’ inflammatory chemicals in a process dubbed nexocytosis.
When mast cells sense proteins from outside the body, they instigate an inflammatory response by expelling granules, packages of chemicals that attract other immune cells — including neutrophils, a key type of white blood cell (SN: 9/23/24).
Immunologist and biochemist Michael Mihlan and colleagues triggered mast cells to react to a human blood protein. The team then watched the reactions in both mouse and human cells through a microscope. Mast cells lured neutrophils toward them, then swallowed the specialized white blood cells, the researchers reported in the Sept. 19 Cell.
Mast cells can trap and digest other immune cells during an allergic response. The trapped cells’ proteins, DNA, and molecules are used by mast cells to sustain themselves or released as inflammatory chemicals through nexocytosis. This process may help scientists understand the root causes of health conditions involving allergies or the immune system.
Mast cells, the immune system’s security patrols, can trigger allergic inflammation when they encounter unfamiliar proteins.
- sciencenews.org | During an allergic response, some immune cells digest others
