Secret to Sepsis May Lie in Rare Cell

In a paper published in Nature Immunology, scientists from Seattle Children’s Research Institute reveal how a rare group of white blood cells called basophils play an important role in the immune response to a bacterial infection, preventing the development of sepsis. Basophils play key role in preventing sepsis Dr. Adrian Piliponsky believes the findings provide novel insights into how basophils might have a key role in preventing a bacterial infection’s progression into sepsis. To examine the basophils’ contribution to the immune response, the researchers used a model of bacterial infection and sepsis that closely resembles the progression and characteristics of human sepsis in genetically-modified mice. Their studies showed that basophils were one of the first types of immune cell to appear at the infection site. The presence of basophils not only enhanced inflammation at the early stages of an immune response to infection and improved survival in mice, but did this in part by releasing a protein known as tumor necrosis factor (TNF). As a major player in the immune response to an infection, TNF sends the signal to other cells causing them to switch into high gear and generate the inflammatory response that is vital to protecting and healing damaged tissue. Its presence in this research adds to mounting evidence that basophil-derived TNF plays a major role in the first stages of the immune system’s defense against an infection, and indicates that a reduced basophil presence or a deficiency in factors regulated by basophils can lead to sepsis. “These findings show that basophils, despite their low numbers, can trigger a cascade of events that both helps them to initiate an immune response against infection and enhances the effectiveness of this response,” wrote Piliponsky and his co-authors in the paper. “Together, these findings provide novel insights into how basophils, and basophil-derived TNF, might have key roles in the early stages following bacterial infections and in resisting the progression of such infections to sepsis.” https://www.technologynetworks.com/cell-science/news/secret-to-sepsis-may-lie-in-rare-cell-314305?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=69184289&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_IOeuWoXpbMs4YwJP3uHYV2Y_TxvQD8tbEPrNEjCnIE4t1tYYce9uBsaCxv-8wzjN8QK4aQzymKjvOHWalcPTVCDsI8Q&_hsmi=69184289