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News Release 06-141
"Killer" B Cells Provide New Link in the Evolution of Immunity
Immune cells play different roles in fish and mammals
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In the adaptive immune system in mammals, B cells produce antibodies to fight infection. In the more-primitive innate immunity in fish, scientists found that B cells take part in a process known as phagocytosis, by which immune system cells ingest foreign particles and microbes. The round cell in the lower left is B-cell ike from a trout. It is in the process of engulfing three latex beads, each (arrow) about 1 micron in diameter.
Image for use only with news articles about the research.
Credit: J. Oriol Sunyer, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; image taken with the assistance of R. Meade, Biomedical Imaging Core Laboratory of the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
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