A hair-trigger for cells fighting infection

To fight infections cells in the immune system play a dangerous game with their own genes. Damaging genes allows B cells to make antibodies that are specifically equipped to target to specific causes of illness, but damaging genes also puts them at risk of becoming cancerous. A new study led by scientists at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, UK identifies Tia1 as a hair-trigger protein that stop our body's defences from turning against us.