Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Humans, sharks share immune-system feature.
DaltheJigsaw
Mountain View Veteran
A central element of the immune system has remained constant through more than 400 million years of evolution, according to new research at National Jewish Health. In the September 29, 2011, online version of the journal Immunity, the researchers report that T-cell receptors from mice continue to function even when pieces of shark, frog and trout receptors are substituted in. The function of the chimeric receptors depends on a few crucial amino acids, found also in humans, that help the T-cell receptor bind to MHC molecules presenting antigens.
Ads by Google
Award Winning Anti-Spam - Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall 5 Star Rated by SC Magazine - www.barracudanetworks.com
"These findings prove a hypothesis first proposed 40 years ago,” said senior author Laurent Gapin, PhD, associate professor of immunology in the Integrated Deparemtn of Immunology at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado Denver. “Even though mammals, amphibians and cartilaginous fish last shared a common ancestor more than 400 million years ago, they continue to share an element of their T-cell receptors, indicating that the T cell-MHC interaction arose early in the evolution of the immune system, and is central to its function.”
The T cell serves as the sentinel, manager and enforcer of the adaptive immune response. It relies on its receptor, the T-cell receptor, to recognize foreign material and identify the target of the immune-system attack. When the receptor binds to small fragments of foreign organisms, called antigens, the T cell becomes activated, proliferates and initiates an attack against any molecule or organism containing that antigen.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-humans-sharks-immune-system-feature.html
Ads by Google
Award Winning Anti-Spam - Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall 5 Star Rated by SC Magazine - www.barracudanetworks.com
"These findings prove a hypothesis first proposed 40 years ago,” said senior author Laurent Gapin, PhD, associate professor of immunology in the Integrated Deparemtn of Immunology at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado Denver. “Even though mammals, amphibians and cartilaginous fish last shared a common ancestor more than 400 million years ago, they continue to share an element of their T-cell receptors, indicating that the T cell-MHC interaction arose early in the evolution of the immune system, and is central to its function.”
The T cell serves as the sentinel, manager and enforcer of the adaptive immune response. It relies on its receptor, the T-cell receptor, to recognize foreign material and identify the target of the immune-system attack. When the receptor binds to small fragments of foreign organisms, called antigens, the T cell becomes activated, proliferates and initiates an attack against any molecule or organism containing that antigen.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-humans-sharks-immune-system-feature.html
0