Millions of "good" bacteria exist harmoniously on the skin and in the intestines of healthy people. When harmful bacteria attack, the immune system fights back by sending out white blood cells to destroy the disease-causing interlopers. But how do white blood cells know which bacteria are good and which are harmful?
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researchers studied one type of white blood cell known as a macrophage, which is among the immune system's first to detect and eliminate harmful bacteria. The research team, led by Christian Stehlik, John P. Gallagher Research Professor of Rheumatology at Feinberg, discovered that the protein NLRP7 serves as a "scout" in macrophage cells, identifying bacterial cell wall components in harmful gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes.
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