Immune cells blast infections and cancer with protein ‘bombs’

Amazing stuff! Cancer is history! Let the bombing of infections and cancers begin! Finally, rid humanity of these scourges!



"... One of a killer T cell’s most important weapons is perforin, a protein that punctures the outer membrane of the target cell. Enzymes called granzymes that the T cell also releases can then pour in and trigger the victim to commit suicide. Whether killer T cells just squirt out granzymes and perforin or rely on specialized structures to transport the lethal molecules to the target cell has not been clear. ... Their results, reported today in Science, suggest the cells package the molecules into containers the team calls supramolecular attack particles, or SMAPs. By analyzing the payloads of these bombs, the scientists discovered that SMAPs contain not just perforin and granzymes, but also more than 280 other kinds of proteins. ..."



Immune cells blast infections and cancer with protein ‘bombs’ | Science | AAAS