Members of the Krebs group (f.l.t.r.): Michael Berger, Co-author of the study, Ludmila Cardoso-Alvez, first author, Marie-Hélène Wasmer, and Philippe Krebs, last author.
Killer cells of the immune system detect and kill infected cells or cancer cells. Researchers at the Institute of Pathology at the University of Bern have now discovered that the mechanism by which certain immune cells kill their target cells can also be used to control the killer cells themselves. This finding may be relevant to cancer immunotherapy. The so-called natural killer (NK) cells are cells of the innate immune system that recognize and eliminate infected cells or cancer cells. During a virus infection, NK cells also keep the body's own immune cells such as the T cells at bay in order to avoid excessive killing of intact body cells. In addition, NK cells release messenger molecules that support the immune defense. NK cells are therefore particularly important for immunity - if they are defective, recurrent infections with several viruses and cancer can develop.
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