Whty is it in new?
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Scientists in Sweden claim to have successfully reprogrammed mouse and human skin cells into immune cells called dendritic cells.
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The process is “quick and effective”, and allows direct reprogramming for inducing immunity.
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The finding opens up the possibility of developing novel dendritic cell-based immunotherapies against cancer.
Dendritic cells
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Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in vivo, capable of both tolerance induction and the initiation of primary T-cell responses.
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A number of DC subsets have been described in both men and mice with unique functional attributes ascribed to a few.
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Function- Immune system’s sentinels.
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Task-
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To scan our tissues for foreign particles, such as bacteria, viruses or cancer cells, and to devour them.
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Break down the particles into smaller pieces, known as antigens, and present them on the surface to the immune system’s killer cells (T-cells).
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In this way, the killer cells learn which infectious agents and cancer cells they are to search for and kill.
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Cancer effects- Cancer can affect the dendritic cells in such a way that they get lost or become dysfunctional and therefore researchers are on the lookout for new ways to generate dendritic cells for every patient.
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Three essential proteins (PU.1, IRF8 and BATF3) are sufficient to change the identity of mouse cells and make them dendritic.
Source
The Hindu