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Immunology

Mobilizing the army

Nature volume 421, pages 223–224 (2003)Cite this article

When our bodies are injured or infected, inflammatory cells migrate to the damaged area to carry out rescue and repair work. Interactions between three types of protein may form the basis of a highway to guide these cells.

Our bodies respond to injury and infection by mobilizing inflammatory cells, which, on reaching an afflicted area, kill microorganisms, eliminate any debris and regulate tissue repair. Neutrophils, which are generated in the bone marrow and circulate through the bloodstream, are the first such cells to arrive on the scene. Armed with potent protein-digesting enzymes and oxidants, neutrophils are consummate microbe killers. But if these cells accumulate and are activated in an uncontrolled way, they can cause excessive inflammation and injure the very tissues they are designed to protect. So it is important to understand how neutrophils find their way to, and so accumulate at, sites of injury. A breakthrough came recently with a paper published in Cell by Li and colleagues1.

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Figure 1: Directing neutrophils to sites of injury.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 15 Francis Street, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    Steven D. Shapiro

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  1. Steven D. Shapiro
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Correspondence to Steven D. Shapiro.

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Shapiro, S. Mobilizing the army. Nature 421, 223–224 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/421223a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/421223a

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