human antiviral system

Na mesma direção aportada pela AMICOR Maria Inês Reinert Azambuja, juntando virus, atheroesclerose, inflamação e sistema imunitário...

Cell death unleashes full force of human antiviral system

February 13, 2012

A scientific team led by researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Charité Berlin Medical University has discove showing how much our immune system is provoked into action when confronted by viral intruders.

The possibility of exploiting this mechanism in vaccines holds promise for the development of new ways of preventing and treating infectious diseases and cancer.

Killer T cells (cytotoxic T lymphocytes) play a central role in our immune system. They are capable of specifically identifying and killing cells harbouring viruses or bacteria and also cancer cells. It is likely that cytotoxic T lymphocytes will play an important role in the future development of vaccines against HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, malaria and also cancer.

It has long been known that viral infection in humans is followed by formation of an army of T lymphocytes. But how does this mobilization come about and who decides it? Researchers think that the alert is provided by dendritic cells capable of identifying a virus by its specific, characteristic molecular motifs called pathogen-associated molecular patterns or PAMPs. After identifying a pathogen, the dendritic cells then coordinate the action of cytotoxic T lymphocytes./.../