Innate Immune System

The innate immune system is the body's first line of defense against pathogens entering the body. It responds in the same way to all germs and foreign substances, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the "nonspecific" immune system. There are many different pathways in the innate system, which include thousands or even tens of thousands of protein molecules. Some small molecules can also participate in multiple pathways. In order to fully understand the function of the innate immunity pathway, it is very important to solve the structures of these proteins first.

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) technique, an ongoing revolution in structural biology, uses a giant microscope to shoot narrow streams of electrons on the thin and flash-frozen samples, which enables the direct visualization of protein particles for structural determination. With cryo-EM, we can reveal the structures of innate immune system-related protein molecules, which provides strong support for drug discovery and antibody research.

Figure 1. Structure of full-length human STING in the apo state (Shang G, et al. 2019)

In 2019, Dr. Zhijian Chen of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center used cryo-EM to reveal the full-length structure of the elusive STING protein. STING is a key member of an important pathway in innate immunity. The analysis of STING protein structure not only provides strong support for the study of immune signaling pathways, but also is important for drug development in cancer immunotherapy. STING is one of the smallest membrane proteins solved to near-atomic resolution using cryo-EM. At present, many proteins involved in the innate immune signaling pathway are being analyzed by cryo-EM technology.

At present, cryo-EM has been applied in drug discovery, antibody research and development, vaccine research and development, gene therapy research, and other directions. Our cryo-EM platform can help with the studies of congenital immune-related proteins and provide support for drug development.

If you are interested in our cryo-EM analysis services for innate immune system disease research, please feel free to contact us. We are looking forward to cooperating with you.

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Reference

1. Shang G, et al. Cryo-EM structures of STING reveal its mechanism of activation by cyclic GMP–AMP. Nature. 2019. 567(7748): 389-393.