A screen capture of the video showing cytotoxic T cells (shown as green and orange in the video) attacking a cancer cell (blue). The video also shows cytotoxic T cells attacking virally infected cells, shown in red. (Video credit: University of Cambridge).
Researchers have captured video of immune cells hunting and destroying cancer and virally-infected cells. The footage was captured using high-resolution 3D time-lapse multi-colour imaging.
T cells, a type of white-blood cell, can recognize antigens on the surface of certain cancerous and infected cells. The video shows these T cells (seen in orange or green) moving around quickly, then sending out protrusions to scan the surface of nearby cells. If a membrane protrusion detects antigens it will inject cytotoxins, poisonous proteins, into the sick cell.
In the video you can see the sick cells shrink and die before the T cell moves on to find another target.
The original research paper the video is from was published in Immunity on May 19, 2015, and is available upon request.
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