CD8+ T cells tagged posts

Identical Mice, different Gut Bacteria, different Levels of Cancer

Photo of researcher suited up holding tank with mouse inside.
Photo courtesy of ULAM Germ-Free Mouse Facility.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center are shedding new light on the way microorganisms that live in the gastrointestinal tract can affect the development of colorectal cancer.

Some types of gut bacteria are better than others at stimulating certain immune cells, specifically CD8+ T cells, in the body, they found. And while these CD8+ T cells normally help protect the body against cancer, overstimulating them may promote inflammation and exhaust the T cells — which can actually increase susceptibility to cancer, according to new mouse model study published in Cell Reports.

The work will help scientists pinpoint which populations of bacteria are tumor suppressive or tumor promoting and how, says study first au...

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Possible Master Switch for Programming Cancer Immunotherapy

 Study authors Adam Getzler, Dapeng Wang and Matthew Pipkin of The Scripps Research Institute collaborated with scientists at the University of California, San Diego

Study authors Adam Getzler, Dapeng Wang and Matthew Pipkin of The Scripps Research Institute collaborated with scientists at the University of California, San Diego

Researchers report the discovery that a protein called ‘Runx3’ programs killer T cells to establish residence in tumors and infection sites. During infection or tumor growth, CD8+ T cells rapidly multiply within the spleen and lymph nodes and acquire the ability to kill diseased cells. Some of these killer T cells then migrate where required to vanquish the germs or cancers.

But how do killer T cells “learn” to leave their home base and amass within specific tissues like the skin, gut, and lung, or solid tumors? Finding the factors that cause T cells to function beyond the lymphoid system and in sites of infection or cancer has...

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When Liver Immune Cells turn Bad

Intrahepatic IFN-I signaling and responsive CD8+ T cells promote metabolic disease in mice and correlate to worsened NAFLD in humans.

Intrahepatic IFN-I signaling and responsive CD8+ T cells promote metabolic disease in mice and correlate to worsened NAFLD in humans.

A high-fat diet and obesity turn “hero” virus-fighting liver immune cells “rogue”, leading to insulin resistance, a condition that often results in type 2 diabetes, according to research published today in Science Immunology. Using cells from mice and human livers, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute researchers demonstrated for the first time how under specific conditions, such as obesity, liver CD8+ T cells, white blood cells in the control of viral infections, become highly activated and inflammatory, reprogramming themselves into disease-driving cells.

Scientists have been trying for many years to discover why the liver continues to pump out too ...

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