Immune Cells

Flatworms reveal exploding immune cells that kill surrounding tissue

Stanford scientists have discovered a new type of immune cell that kills surrounding cells via explosion—a cellular detonation so fast and complete that the cell vanishes within minutes, leaving no trace behind. This discovery comes from an unlikely source: planarian flatworms. These aquatic, slithering pancake versions of worms are famous for their ability to survive dismemberment and grow whole new organisms from the sliced-up segments of their formerly unified body.

The RNA helicase DDX21 cooperates with ETS1 and FLI1 in cell cycle, immune evasion, and snoRNA processing in activated B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cells

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a clinically and biologically heterogeneous disease, with the activated B-cell-like (ABC) subtype showing inferior outcomes. The ETS transcription factors ETS1 and FLI1 are recurrently gained and functionally relevant in DLBCL, yet their pathogenic role remains to be fully elucidated. Here, we describe their cooperation with the RNA regulatory machinery, demonstrating that the RNA helicase DDX21 is a central effector of the ETS1/FLI1 transcriptional...

Daily briefing: These immune cells go out with a bang

Nature, Published online: 03 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01799-9Newly-discovered ‘ruptoblasts’ explode to shower nearby cells with toxic chemicals. Plus, how psychology is tackling its reproducibility crisis and when to settle, according to maths.

Bang! Exploding immune cells splatter potent toxins everywhere

Nature, Published online: 02 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01766-4Detonation of newly discovered ‘ruptoblasts’, found in flatworms, releases compounds that kill nearby cells in minutes.

Iron-rich immune cells help homing pigeons navigate

Article URL: https://www.science.org/content/article/mind-blowing-iron-rich-immune-cells-help-homing-pigeons-navigate Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48333844 Points: 21 # Comments: 0

Bespoke immune cells stave off ravages of cirrhosis

Nature, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01670-xDeath and the need for liver transplant were delayed in people with cirrhosis who received macrophage therapy.

Organoid-T cell co-cultures functionally stratify tumor-reactive T cells and their responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors

Tumor-reactive T cells (TRTs) are critical for anti-tumor immunity but are incompletely captured by current assays, which fail to reproduce tumor-specific antigen diversity. Here, we show that multiplex functional profiling of patient-derived tumor organoid-T cell co-cultures (PDOTs) enables robust identification of TRTs across CD8, CD4, and double-negative (DN) T cell populations. Single activation markers underestimated TRT responses, whereas integrated analysis revealed broader functional...

Extracellular salicylic acid activates immune signaling through cell-surface receptors

Salicylic acid (SA) is a central immune hormone that accumulates in both intracellular and extracellular compartments during pathogen infection. While intracellular SA signaling is well established, whether extracellular SA (eSA) directly activates immune responses remains unknown. Here we show that eSA functions as an extracellular signal potentially perceived by the plasma membrane-localized lectin receptor kinases LecRK-I.8 and LecRK-VI.2 in Arabidopsis.

Publisher Correction: Microbiota-induced T cell plasticity enables immune-mediated tumour control

Mapping genetic risk mechanisms for immune-mediated diseases across human dendritic cell differentiation

Defining the cell types and mechanisms through which genetic variation operates is essential to understand the biological basis of disease. Although human dendritic cells (DCs) are crucial in regulating immunity, their rarity and limitations in available genomic data have hampered efforts to link inherited disease risk to specific DC subsets. Here, we present a single-cell multi-omic atlas of human DC differentiation from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) that includes...