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Immune System Killer Mechanism Identified
traveller.ct writes "Researchers from Melbourne and London have identified the mechanism by which the immune system destroys malignant cells. The notion of killer cells puncturing a malignant cell to inject toxic enzymes has been understood for over a century, but now, using the Australian Synchrotron, researchers have identified the protein which is responsible for forming a pore in the malignant cell: perforin. Perforin resembles the cellular weaponry employed by bacteria such as anthrax, but may have been appropriated by our immune system in our evolutionary past to fight against them. The researchers are now investigating ways to boost perforin for more effective cancer protection and therapy for acute diseases such as cerebral malaria."
Should have been pretty obvious from the start.
"Let's see which of the proteins is most likely the one used to perforate other cells.. we have relaxin, movearoundin, respiratin and perforin... hmmm!
Actually, what the researchers have done is produce an X-ray crystal structure of perforin, which enables them to understand how it works and hopefully how to tweak it to our purposes. Could be an interesting drug, recombinantly engineered perforin targeting e.g. malaria or other protozoan diseases. It is of course just another of several attempts to use immune system derived proteins as medicines (antibiotics, anti tumour drugs etc), and will suffer the same problems: hard to administer, breaks down quickly, does not diffuse well through tissue to the target area.
The summary's statement that the researchers have "identified" perforins as the causative agent of cell membrane perforation is misleading, that has been known for quite some time, as you mention.