A vivid video shows an immune system cell attacking a cancer cell.
Cell biologist Alex Ritter and colleagues captured the video using a special microscope.
Within footage, a fiery red T cell attaches itself to a lymphoma cancer cell to kill it.
“The T cell is not actually on fire, of course—its appearance is caused partly by a fluorescent protein added by the researchers—but its dynamic, flowing surface is the cell’s natural reaction to identifying a cancer target,” Ritter tweeted.
Ritter and colleagues were investigating how cancer cells protect themselves against T cell attacks.
T cells are on assignment to defend our bodies from infection, including cancer cells. T cells attach themselves to cancer cells and send toxins to destroy them internally.
There are two types of toxins released from T cells. First, perforin toxins create holes on the outside of the cancer cell. Then cytotoxic proteins pass through the holes and kill the cancer.
Newest study by Ritter and colleagues revealed cancer cells defend themselves against T cells by sealing the holes created by the toxins. The cancer cells defense can prevent the T cells from killing them.
