Tampering with the Immune System

Tight regulation of the immune system is essential to ensure an appropriate immune response to pathogens and to prevent inappropriate immune responses that could lead to autoimmune disease. As Schwartzberg explains in her Perspective, new work shows that the Tyro-3 family of receptor tyrosine kinases may be important for regulating the activity of the immune system9s antigen-presenting cells, which are important for presenting antigen to lymphocytes and for clearing up cellular debris that could provoke an autoimmune response.