Some immune cells only defend one organ

In this article, scientists have discovered a new way the immune system may fight cancers and viral infections. Research has been done on mice and in mice it shows that some organs have the immunological equivalent of "neighorhood police" speacialized squads of defenders that patrol only one area, a single organ, instead of an entire body. If one group of cells absolutly needs a transcription factor to exist, while another group of cells dosent care if that factor is gone, that strongly suggests that the two groups of cells use disticnt developmental pathways and are therfore different. The results point to at least four types of natural killer cells rather than just one major type long recongnized by immunologists. After discovering this new addition to the body this changes some of the concepts and thoughts of many reaserchers and may help with different cancers.


http://www.nature.com/icb/index.html