CONTROLLING THE MOLECULAR MOTOR OF NEUTROPHIL CHEMOTAXIS

Our defence against microbes depends largely on the ability of neutrop hils to migrate from the blood stream to sites of infection. Although the ability of animal cells to move may be primitive, and also fundame ntal for a number of phenomena in biology, the cellular mechanism by w hich neutrophils are able to move rapidly towards the infection remain s an enigma. Even though the structures of the receptors involved have been sequenced and many of the molecules involved in neutrophil adher ence and traction identified, the essential mechanisms that control an d regulate the neutrophil motor remain obscure. Here, an outline of th e fundamental inadequacies in our current understanding is given, alon g with some recent developments that promise to produce some significa nt advances.