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Intact immune cells (left column) had disintegrated (right column) only 100 seconds after their explosion was triggered by adding a hormone. A cell\u2019s plasma membrane (bottom row, yellow) started to rupture 60 seconds after the hormone was added.Credit: C. Chai et al.\/Cell<\/p>\n
New-found immune cells called \u2018ruptoblasts\u2019 explode when triggered, ejecting toxic chemicals capable of delivering death to surrounding cells in just minutes. The cells\u2019 discoverers say that this process, which they call ruptosis, seems to be a new form of cell death<\/a> that differs considerably from other known types.<\/p>\n The findings1<\/a>, which appear today in the journal Cell, \u201care very interesting and thought-provoking,\u201d says Kristopher Sarosiek, a cell-death researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the research. Although other forms of cell death are similar, none are identical, he says, \u201cmaking ruptosis a new phenomenon\u201d.<\/p>\n Vanishing cells<\/p>\n The authors stumbled on the newly discovered cells while studying a species of planarian flatworm (Schmidtea mediterranea). Planarians have long been of interest to scientists owing to their amazing regenerative capabilities<\/a> \u2014 a single planarian cut into many pieces can regrow into a new worm. Planarians lack immune molecules called antibodies, but they do mount a robust immune response against pathogens as they regenerate. Bo Wang, an organismal biologist at Stanford University in California, and his colleagues were interested in how these worms deal with immune challenges, and began studying the animals at a cellular level.<\/p>\n During early observations, the researchers were confused by what they saw under the microscope: cells that seemed to rapidly disappear, leaving a no-man\u2019s land strewn with dead cells in their vicinity. After confirming that what they were seeing wasn\u2019t an artefact, the team dubbed the vanishing cells \u2018ruptoblasts\u2019 and set about characterizing them.<\/p>\n
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