The world of medicine has reached another historical milestone on the way to understanding the nature of the functioning of the human immune system and its fight against microorganisms that threaten our health and life.
These revelations come to us from the University College of London. British scientists have filmed for the first time how the human proteins of the immune system are punctured by bacterial cellular shields. You can see all of this extraordinary process in the film below.
All research in this matter has been published in the latest issue of Nature Communications. We can read in them that this is a great achievement that will allow you to not only learn how it happens that the immune system kills hostile cells and does not attack your own, but above all new knowledge will allow you to develop completely new and more secure and effective methods of fighting bacterial infections.
Research has shown that immune system proteins, when attacking bacteria, form microscopic holes in their cellular shell with a diameter of only 10 nanometers. Remarkably, scientists note that the proteins that attack the cells of the bacteria at the beginning do not know whether they are dealing with the enemy or with their own cells. Therefore, after the first attack of a single protein, there is a break to verify, and then the attack is already aggregated, of course, if it will be hostile cells.
During the whole attack, up to 18 drops of protein are needed to create a hole in the cell. Then there are internal changes in the DNA of the host cell and the bacterium is slowly overcome. The process was filmed using an atomic force microscope with a liquid chamber.
Source: GeekWeek.pl/LiveScience
Photo: Nature Communications