Lymphocytes meet the enemy on the threshold
Combining methods of in vivo visualization of cellular processes, immunology and virology allowed scientists of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the USA to trace in detail the process of interaction between viruses and immune cells in the lymph nodes of living mice.
The researchers isolated a population of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes from mice, marked them with fluorescent markers and injected them back into the animals, after which they infected them with the cowpox virus (vaccinia virus, VV) and vesicular stomatitis. (vesicular stomatitis virus, VSV).
Using a multiphoton microscope, the authors observed how viruses infect cells directly below the surface of the lymph nodes, which stimulates virus-specific T-lymphocytes that form a complex dynamic communication system that ensures the division of these cells and their movement into the infection zone, where they destroy virus-infected cells. In additional materials to the article by Heather D Hickman "Direct priming of antiviral CD8+ T cells in the peripheral interfollicular region of lymph nodes", published in Nature Immunology, there are several interesting (unfortunately, very short) videos.
The authors claim that their methodology will help in the development of effective antiviral vaccines, including against deadly pathogens such as HIV, against which standard vaccination approaches are powerless.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News
11.02.2008