Researchers at the Institute of Medical Research in Garvan (Australia) found a new micro-organism that participates in the functions of the immune system, according to an article published in the journal Nature Communications.
According to the data studied, the specialists found the exact place where the immune system remembers previous infections and vaccines and where the immune cells gather to fight back infections that the human organism had already seen before.
Initially, this thin, flat structure known technically as subcapsular proliferative foci (SPF) was found in the lymph nodes of the immune system of mice. The main feature of this micro-organ is that it is only visible when the body is preparing to fight against an infection that the immune system fought and defeated before.
“When you’re fighting bacteria that can double in number every 20 to 30 minutes, every moment matters. To put it bluntly, if your immune system takes too long to assemble the tools to fight the infection, you die,” explained the professor, whose words are quoted in the Garvan Medical Research Institute site.
“This is why vaccines are so important. Vaccination trains the immune system, so that it can make antibodies very rapidly when an infection reappears. Until now we didn’t know how and where this happened” said Tri Phan.
According to the researchers, this finding may help medical professionals to produce better vaccines in the future.
