The immune system is contantly performing surveillance to detect foreign organisms that might do harm. But pathogens, for their part, have evolved a number of strategies to evade this detection, such as secreting proteins that hinder a host's ability to mount an immune response.
In a new study, a team of researchers led by Igor E. Brodsky of the University of Pennsylvania, identified a "back-up alarm" system in host cells that responds to a pathogen's attempt to subvert the immune system.
"In the context of an infection, the cells that are dying are talking to the other cells that aren't infected," said Brodsky, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathobiology in Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine and senior author on the study. "I don't think of it as altruistic, exactly, but it's a way for the cells that can't respond any longer to still alert their neighbors that a pathogen is present.""
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In a new study, a team of researchers led by Igor E. Brodsky of the University of Pennsylvania, identified a "back-up alarm" system in host cells that responds to a pathogen's attempt to subvert the immune system.
"In the context of an infection, the cells that are dying are talking to the other cells that aren't infected," said Brodsky, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathobiology in Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine and senior author on the study. "I don't think of it as altruistic, exactly, but it's a way for the cells that can't respond any longer to still alert their neighbors that a pathogen is present.""
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