Host or foreign -- the body's frontline defense mechanism understood
Friday, February 4, 2011 - 10:00
in Biology & Nature
Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, have now described how the first line of defense of the human immune system distinguishes between microbes and the body's own structures. The basis of this recognition mechanism has been unclear since the key protein components were discovered over 30 years ago -- and has now finally been cracked.