Mobile Process — Patients with Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS), a rare immunodeficiency disorder, are susceptible to chronic infections due to defects in the migratory behavior of immune cells, such as macrophages, in response to chemical cues. In work, published in the January issue of the journal PLoS One, seventh-year M.D.–Ph.D. student Dan Ishihara made a surprising discovery showing that macrophages lacking a functional WAS protein (WASp) retain the ability to detect the chemical warning signs of infection and even respond with an increase in mobility, but are unable to migrate directionally toward the source of infection. Mr. Ishihara’s research further showed that this abnormality in the WASp-deficient macrophages’ mobility is due partly to defects in the cytoskeleton, the internal support structure of all cells. Mr. Ishihara’s research was conducted in the laboratory of his mentor, Dr. Dianne Cox, associate professor of anatomy & structural biology and of developmental & molecular biology.
Posted on: Tuesday, March 20, 2012