Bang! Exploding immune cells splatter potent toxins everywhere - Nature

Amanda Heidt is a freelance writer and editor in Moab, Utah. Search author on: PubMed  Google Scholar Bluesky Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Whatsapp X Intact immune cells (left column) had disintegrated (right column) only 100 seconds after their explosion was triggered by adding a hormone. A cell’s plasma membrane (bottom row, yellow) started to rupture 60 seconds after the hormone was added.Credit: C. Chai et al./Cell Newly found immune cells called ‘ruptoblasts’ explode when triggered, ejecting toxic chemicals capable of delivering death to surrounding cells in just minutes. The cells’ discoverers say that this process, which they call ruptosis, seems to be a new form of cell death that differs considerably from other known types. The findings1, which appear today in the journal Cell, “are very interesting and thought-provoking”, says Kristopher Sarosiek, a cell-death researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. Although other forms of cell death are similar, none is identical, he says, “making ruptosis a new phenomenon”. The authors stumbled on the cells while studying a species of planarian flatworm (Schmidtea mediterranea). Planarians have long been of interest to scientists owing to their amazing regenerative capabilities — a single planarian cut into many pieces can regrow into a new worm. They lack immune molecules called antibodies, but they do mount a robust immune response against pathogens as they regenerate. Bo Wang, an organismal biologist at Stanford University in California, and his colleagues were interested in how these worms deal with immune challenges, and began studying the animals at a cellular level. During early observations, the researchers were confused by what they saw under the microscope: cells that seemed to rapidly disappear, leaving a no-man’s land strewn with dead cells in their vicinity. After confirming that what they were seeing wasn’t an artefact, the team dubbed the vanishing cells ‘ruptoblasts’ and set about characterizing them. The hunt for the next CRISPR: how warring microbes are inspiring new technology