From Physorg.:

Like tuning a violin to produce strong, elegant notes, researchers at The Wistar Institute have found multiple receptors on the outside of the body’s killer immune system cells which they believe can be selectively targeted to keep the cells in superb infection- and disease-fighting condition.

In a study published online November 30 in Nature Immunology, the researchers describe their discovery of seven different receptors on T cells that can tamp down immune responses during a prolonged battle with an infectious pathogen or against developing cancer.

Chronic over-stimulation of the immune system can lead to poor control of infections and cancer, so the results explain why it is that these key immune cells gradually become “exhausted” and ineffective over time, says the study’s lead author, E. John Wherry, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Wistar’s Immunology Program.

Read more ….

Related Posts:

Camouflaging Of Viral DNA Could Be Crucial Step In Progression Of Cancers

From Science Daily:ScienceDaily (Feb. 14, 2009) — An estimated 15% of cancer cases can be linked to a viral infection, however the biological changes that cause some asymptomatic carriers of a virus to develop full-blown tumors are not well understood. In a study published online in Genome Research, scientists have

Being a vegetarian can cut your risk of cancer by a half, claim scientists

Being a vegetarian protects you from cancer, claim scientists in a wide-ranging study which found cutting out meat can reduce the risk of some types of the disease by half.Researchers who studied tens of thousands of Britons over more than a decade found that vegetarians were 12 per cent less

Scientists Seek Ways To Ward Off Killer Asteroids

Artist's rendition released by NASA shows an asteroid belt in orbit around a star. Between 500 and 1,000 massive asteroids cross the Earth's path regularly and any one of them could cause a global catastrophe, space experts warned Tuesday, urging quick preventive measures. (AFP/NASA-HO/File)From Yahoo News/McClatchy:WASHINGTON — A blue-ribbon panel

Scientists create ‘artificial brain’ to help fight Alzheimer’s

Scientists have created an "artificial brain" they believe could help them discover a cure for diseases like Alzheimer's.Researchers at Aston University in Birmingham took cells from a cancerous tumour and "reprogrammed" them to create those identical to the human nervous system.Scientists say that the development could mean that a breakthough

Global Cancer Deaths to Double by 2030

Breast Cancer Cell (Photo from Alernative Treatments)From WebMD:Dec. 9, 2008 -- Cancer deaths are projected to more than double worldwide over the next two decades, largely from a dramatic increase in cancer incidence in low- and middle-income countries driven by tobacco use and increasingly Westernized lifestyles.A new report from the