The more you know about the way the body works, the more wondrously mysterious it all seems. Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, using super high resolution microscopes, now have far more understanding of the way the immune system works. Focusing on one type of cell in particular that naturally fights viral infections, Dr. Jordan Orange says his lab is using a Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscope to break the laws of physics and see particles smaller than 200 nanometers. To put that into perspective, one human blood cell measures about 5000 nanometers.
The results are fascinating. "The cell in my lab naturally fights viral infections, and seeks out and destroys cancer cells without the need to be trained. These cells are an important part of keeping us healthy," says Orange. "They carry around very small sacs of poison inside and move them to a contact point within a dangerous cell." The poison is released and the cell is destroyed, explains Orange, explaining this effective means of maintaining our health.
"One of the things we've now learned from the use of this technology is that these sacs have a rather elegant interaction with the structural framework of the cell." Orange, who is fond of analogies, says that the former understanding could be compared to getting something into the cellar by blowing a giant hole in the floor and dropping it down. "What this microscope has allowed us to determine is that in reality it's like opening a small vent in the floor to move the object that's almost the same size as the vent."
Orange and his team's findings about these natural killer cells have just been published in the journal Public Library of Science (
PLoS) Biology. Orange says that going forward, the findings will contribute to fighting all kinds of cancers and infections. It's also interesting to note that CHOP, where the ongoing NIH funded study is taking place, is one of the first institutions in the country to have the STED microscope.
Source: Jordan Orange, MD/PhD, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
Writer: Sue Spolan