Immunity; NK roaming killer cells (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, September 05, 2017, 17:36 (2637 days ago) @ dhw

David: A new immunity cell has been described. It roams looking for problems:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170831091445.htm

QUOTE: The NK cell is a "vigilante" killer -- a white blood cell that destroys invaders and cancer cells through a process of "identity card" checking. The researchers' new work shows that violent vigilante NK cells act as helper cells to start up the immune response.
Otago Associate Professor Alex McLellan says NK cells patrol the body and destroy abnormal cells, especially infected or cancer cells. NK cells closely examine the surface of all cells and look for molecules that are present on healthy cells.

DHW: It is always very difficult for these researchers to find ways of describing cellular activity without using anthropomorphic language. That may be because cells actually do their work in much the same way as humans do – using their own particular form of intelligence.

Of course these cells have a full list of instructions in their DNA to tell them what to do.