An international team of researchers discovered a type of immune cells that are capable of producing defensive shields in the skin to protect and prevent against possible infections.
Led by scientists from the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), the researchers managed to identify that specialized group of neutrophils – a type of white blood cell that helps the body to combat infections – and today publish the result of their work in the journal Nature.
The team led by researcher Andrés Hidalgo proved how a special type of neutrophils produce an extracellular matrix that helps maintain their resistance and integrity, which also demonstrates that the immune system not only fights infections, but also physically reinforces the skin to prevent them.
These cells penetrate the skin to generate collagen and other proteins, which strengthens the skin barrier, the CNIC reported in a note where he stressed that the finding opens new pathways to understand the immune system and could inspire treatments for skin diseases, inflammation, diabetes and aging.
Traditionally known for its defense function against infections, work reveals an unexpected role for neutrophils, that of the generation and remodeling of the extracellular matrix of the skin.
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Cells react to skin lesions
“This matrix is essential to maintain the structure and function of the skin and other tissues, acting as a barrier to the entry of harmful microorganisms and substances,” said Andrés Hidalgo in the note spread by the CNIC.
The investigation, says the first author, Tommaso Vicanolo, has shown that these neutrophils reinforce the skin in normal conditions and react actively to the lesions, forming protective structures around wounds to avoid the entry of bacteria and toxins.
Another result that emerges from the investigation is that these neutrophils act at a circadian rhythm (one -day cycles), regulating the production of extracellular matrix according to the biological rhythm of the organism, so that in the mice the skin is more resistant during the night than during the day thanks to the action of the neutrophils.
This finding opens new possibilities to investigate how the internal rhythms of the body influence the regeneration and repair of tissues, the researchers have assured.
For Hidalgo, currently at the Yale University School of Medicine (USA), the discovery of neutrophils that produce extracellular matrix not only expands knowledge about innate immunity, but also poses new strategies for the treatment of skin diseases and immunological disorders.
Specifically, “it is likely that these findings have implications in the development of therapies that strengthen the cutaneous barrier in patients with inflammatory diseases or immunological alterations, including patients with diabetes or high age individuals,” he said.
This advance, which is the result of a collaboration of several CNIC teams with laboratories in Germany, the United States, Singapore and China, is a change in the way of perceiving the role of the immune system in the protection of the body, the researchers have observed.
This study has been funded by the “La Caixa” Foundation, the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation and the Swiss National Foundation for Science.
With EFE information
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