Immune cells protect and heal the human body. In medicine, they are specifically activated through biochemical reactions to treat certain diseases. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, ETH Zurich, Humboldt University of Berlin, Charité Berlin and Inselspital Bern have now discovered that immune cells also respond to the surface structure of materials —without chemistry.

This finding opens up new possibilities for effective cancer and immunotherapies as well as implantology. The study is published in the journal ACS Nano.

T cells are important defense cells of the human immune system. They travel through the body, constantly scanning their environment like tiny sensors. On their surface, they have tiny protrusions with receptors—called microvilli—that allow them to identify harmful pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, foreign substances or even altered cells of the body’s own tissues.