A cell small in number but powerful in its ability to switch the immune system on or off is a unique hybrid of two well-known immune cell types, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.
"This is actually the first cell we know of that has this type of appearance in nature," Dr. Andrew Mellor, molecular geneticist and immunologist who co-directs MCG's Immunotherapy Discovery Institute, said of the cell that looks like a dendritic cell and a B cell but isn't really either.
The discovery of this rare hybrid could have implications for the efficacy of new therapies that manipulate these two cell types to treat diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.
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