Mast cells are immune cells known mostly for their unwanted effects: they cause the wheezing of asthma, the itching of eczema, the sneezing and runny nose of hay fever and, in extreme cases, the life-threatening shock of anaphylaxis. But researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that these cells also have some very beneficial effects. Stephen Galli, MD, the Mary Hewitt Loveless, MD, Professor and chair of pathology, and his colleagues have shown for the first time that mast cells can provide protection from a potentially deadly condition known as sepsis by destroying a molecule that contributes to the pathology and death associated with this bacterial infection. Their results are to be published in the Nov. 14 advance online edition of Nature. The first authors, Marcus Maurer, MD, and Jochen Wedemeyer, MD, were postdoctoral fellows in Galli’s laboratory during the study.
