AsianScientist (Apr. 25, 2016) – An international research group led by researchers at Osaka University has discovered that a lipid called lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) plays a vital role in regulating lymphocyte motility within lymph nodes. Their work was published in eLife.
Lymphocytes serve as patrolling ‘police officers’ of the body. They look for invading pathogens and abnormal cells that may appear in our bodies at any time by ‘patrolling’ continuously through blood vessels and lymphatics.
As they look for invaders, they enter lymph nodes because the lymph node is where foreign antigens wander in from peripheral tissues. Once lymphocytes find such invaders within the lymph node, they destroy them by working with other types of immune cells.
Thus, lymph nodes are not only a garrison for immune cells but also a battleground where fighting between our immune cells and invaders takes place. So, lymphocytes are expected to move around swiftly within lymph nodes so as to confront the invaders effectively—but how they do this is unclear.
The researchers found that LPA is produced by a specific type of stromal cells, which forms a scaffold for lymphocytes to crawl around within the node. LPA in turn acts on lymphocytes via a specific receptor, LPA2, enabling them to move around efficiently through narrow spaces.
This work is expected to lead to development of new strategies to control immune responses. Given also that LPA’s precursors are abundant in cabbages and soybeans and that LPA itself is contained in some herbal medicines, this discovery suggests that such natural sources could be used to address immune disorders.
The article can be found at: Takeda et al. (2016) Fibroblastic Reticular Cell-Derived Lysophosphatidic Acid Regulates Confined Intranodal T-Cell Motility.
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Source: Osaka University.
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