UNC researchers identify a new pathway that triggers septic shock

The body's immune system is set up much like a home security system; it has sensors on the outside of cells that act like motion detectors - floodlights - that click on when there's an intruder rustling in the bushes, bacteria that seem suspect. For over a decade researchers have known about one group of external sensors called Toll-like receptors that detect when bacteria are nearby. Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have identified a sensor pathway inside cells...