Neutrophils to the rescue part II
The skin has always been heralded as our body’s first great defense against microbes – a physical barrier to the outside world, shielding us from harm. But when the skin is breached by a cut, our bodies throw up a multitude of other defense strategies led by immune cells called neutrophils. These “first-responder” cells have been shown to combat invading microbes by eating them, releasing enzymes that kill them, and sending out signals for more help. A newly discovered addition to their arsenal sounds like it’s straight out of the pages of a comic book: bacteria-trapping protective goo.
To get to this discovery, scientists from the Yale School of Medicine first asked a simple question: why are neutrophils, which are known for fighting infections or injury, found in completely healthy skin tissue? And what might they be doing there? Using mouse models, the researchers could show that these cells are important for helping establish the sticky proteins, or matrices, of the skin that provide its normal structure. This function becomes even more interesting in the context of wound healing when the skin barrier is broken. Neutrophils quickly take action, producing a matrix, or goo, that acts as a bacteria-trapping physical barricade to prevent microbes from invading the wound. It turns out that neutrophils of the skin have more superpowers than once thought.
Studies like this demonstrate the incredible abilities of our cells to take on additional roles, especially in times of crisis, like healing a skin wound. As humans, we like to categorize and classify, but this study is just one example of a foundation of biology: everything exists on a spectrum.
This study was led by Tommaso Vicanolo, a graduate student researcher at Yale School of Medicine in the laboratory of Andrés Hidalgo.
Managing Correspondent: Morgan Glass
Press Article: Immune cells ‘bandage’ wounds with bacteria-trapping goo, Nature News
Original Research Article: Matrix-producing neutrophils populate and shield the skin, Nature
Image Credit: Abstract Gel, Jill Burrow, Pexels