Lymph Node (IMAGE)

Osaka University

Lymph Node

Caption

In lymph nodes, a particular type of stromal cells that forms a scaffold for lymphocytes to crawl around within the node normally secretes an enzyme called autotaxin, which is responsible for the production of the lipid signaling molecule, lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). Once secreted, LPA binds to the receptor (LPA2) on lymphocytes and makes them extremely motile. In contrast, in the lymph nodes of autotaxin-deficient mice, lymphocytes move only poorly, because LPA is absent.

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Osaka University

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