Research News
Model of lymph node distribution. Dominant blue denotes the dark zone, dominant green denotes the light zone. Photo: HZI
More information:
www.helmholtz.de/hzi-lymphknoten
Casting Show in the Lymph Node
Lymph nodes are the immune system's market squares: This is where cells exchange information as regards pathogens that have entered the body and where they prepare the defence. "What looks like a chaotic abundance of many thousands of cells from the outside, really is a highly structured process", says Prof. Dr Michael Meyer-Hermann. HZI researchers now have produced a mathematical model for the movement of immune cells in lymph nodes and thereby could explain the results obtained by international co-operation partners from the USA: The cells wander between various zones within the lymph nodes in a targeted manner and in doing so go through various optimisation cycles. Cycle by cycle, only those defensive cells are selected, which best match the respective pathogen in order to be able to provide the organism with the optimal weapons, that is, effective antibodies. These new insights into selection of immune cells and optimisation of the immune response could decisively help in improving vaccination as here, too, the creation of highly effective antibodies within the body plays an important role.
