on December 3, 2019
The trachea contains different types of immune cells that protect the respiratory tract from the invasion of pathogens. In a paper published this week in the European Journal of Immunology, the group of Santiago González at the IRB Bellinzona has characterized the role of gammadeltaT cells, one of the members of the innate system, in the defence mechanism against influenza virus. This research shows that, early after infection, gammdeltaT cells are recruited and activated in the trachea (see video). In addition, this work demonstrated that gdT cells promote the recruitment of other immune cells, such as neutrophils and NK cells that are able to control the dissemination of the virus. This work is part of a large project aiming to understand how the immune system recognize and neutralize respiratory pathogens.
This work was possible thanks to funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Article
Palomino-Segura, M., I. Latino, Y. Farsakoglu and S. F. Gonzalez
Eur J Immunol. 2019; doi: 10.1002/eji.201948157