Immunologists study T-cells behaviour
http://www.content-wire.com/biotek/biotech.cfm?ccs=132&cs=709
17 September 2001
Immunologists have discovered that
the body has cohorts of naïve T-cells
They may play an important role in
helping the body's normal immunity to disease but could cause it to overreact
as happens in autoimmune diseases.
T-cells are a type of white blood
cell which are the immune system's front line defence. When they sense
the specific virus to which they are attuned they multiply and attack the
invader.
This new research suggests that the
naïve T-cells may serve to prime T-cells to mount more effective immune
responses. This is fine for most people but for those predisposed to autoimmune
diseases such as multiple sclerosis, where the body turns on itself, this
could trigger a chronic immune response that is harmful.
which are not attuned to any particular
virus, but which the immune system can nevertheless activate in the absence
of pathogens.