Influenza-infected mouse trachea: virus (green), neutrophils (red), collagen (blue)UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER, KIHONG LIM Part of the innate immune system, white blood cells called neutrophils circulate in the blood and are the first responders to an influenza respiratory infection, guiding T cells—part of the adaptive immune response—to the site. Neutrophils create a physical trail of chemokines that allow T cells to home in on the infection site, according to a study published today (September 3) in Science.
Using two-photon microscopy, Minsoo Kim, an immunologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York and his colleagues visualized the mobilization of immune cells in response to an influenza virus-infection in the mouse trachea. The study is the first to track an immune system response to a flu virus in vivo.
“The paper goes very far, using an infection model to not only describe a phenomenon, but to clarify the molecular cascade of events in impressive detail,” said Michael Sixt, who studies the activities of immune cells at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Klosterneuburg. Sixt penned an accompanying perspective on the results, but was not involved in the research.
“[The field] has appreciated that the adaptive immune system doesn’t generate ...
