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Granulocytes are cells of the innate immune system that are characterized by granules in their cytoplasm. The three main types of granulocytes are neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils.
Granulosomes are novel complexes that feature an unexpected partnership between the tetraspanin CD63 and the inflammasome proteins NLRP3 and ASC. Granulosomes assemble on mast cell granules to propel them along microtubules to the plasma membrane for degranulation.
Maturation of innate immune cells is a graded stereotypic process which is often conserved across species. Here authors label distinct neutrophil leukocyte developmental stages via generating combinations of transgenic zebrafish reporter strains, followed by transcriptome analysis of different neutrophil maturation stages and comparison to the gene expression profile of developing neutrophils from humans and mice.
Mast cells serve as sentinels for mucosal infection. This study shows how mast cells can differentially detect extracellular and invasive gut bacteria, and in response tune their cytokine production to signal different levels of danger.
Granulosomes are novel complexes that feature an unexpected partnership between the tetraspanin CD63 and the inflammasome proteins NLRP3 and ASC. Granulosomes assemble on mast cell granules to propel them along microtubules to the plasma membrane for degranulation.
Investigation of neutrophil heterogeneity in tumours reveals the irreversible programming of long-lived, pro-angiogenic neutrophils that drive tumour progression.
A study published in Immunity shows that the mechanical force experienced by neutrophils migrating across endothelial barriers arms them for better bactericidal activity.