Immunity system complexity: triggering protein (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, July 26, 2023, 22:11 (485 days ago) @ David Turell

This one sets off immune reactions:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-07-scientists-protein-required-effective-immune.html

"They found that when certain bacteria are ingested by human immune cells, the protein, called NLRP11, can recognize these bacteria through a portion of their outer coat, filling a previous gap in this recognition pathway.

"NLRP11 is present in humans but not in mice, which are the most common laboratory model for human infection.

"For the study, the researchers focused on macrophages, which are immune cells that ingest and degrade microorganisms (such as bacteria) and stimulate the action of other immune cells.

"A genetic screen revealed that macrophages require the NLRP11 gene to become fully activated after ingesting certain bacteria. Mechanistically, the team found that the NLRP11 protein that's produced from the gene enables a macrophage to sense the presence of bacterial lipopolysaccharide molecules within its interior.

"Upon sensing bacterial lipopolysaccharide molecules, NLRP11 triggers an inflammasome, an intracellular multimeric protein complex that turns on a pathway that activates inflammatory responses to control infection.

"In this case, NLRP11 leads to activation of an enzyme called caspase-4 that is a component of this inflammasome. These actions by NLRP11 result in an effective defense by the immune system that kills invading bacterial cells and prevents widespread infection in the body."

Comment: Another complex molecular set of reactions that strongly support the concept of a designer.