Early clinical trial sheds light on regulatory T cell therapies
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Early clinical trial sheds light on regulatory T cell therapies
Sub: Science and tech
Sec: Health
Context:
Results from a new clinical trial shed light on the performance of infusions of immune-calming regulatory T cells for children with type 1 diabetes.
Results of the trials:
The trial shows that a single dose of the cells can transfer over efficiently in children but does not show signs of preserving insulin-releasing cells in the pancreas.
What is T cells:
- T cells are so called because they are predominantly produced in the thymus.
- They recognise foreign particles (antigen) by a surface expressed, highly variable, T cell receptor (TCR).
- There are two major types of T cells: the helper T cell and the cytotoxic T cell.
- As the names suggest, helper T cells ‘help’ other cells of the immune system, whilst cytotoxic T cells kill virally infected cells and tumors.
- The severity of disease can depend on the strength of these T cell responses.
What are the different types of T-cells?
There are two main types of T-cells:
Cytotoxic T-cells:
- Cytotoxic T-cells are also called CD8+ cells because they have a CD8 receptor on their membranes.
- These cells get their name from “cyto,” which means cell, and “toxic,” which means poisonous or harmful.
- Cytotoxic T-cells kill cells infected with viruses and bacteria, and they also destroy tumor cells.
Helper T-cells:
- Helper T-cells are also called CD4+ cells because they have a CD4 receptor on their membranes.
- Unlike cytotoxic T-cells, helper T-cells don’t kill cells directly.
- Instead, they send signals that tell other cells in your immune system how to coordinate an attack against invaders.
- Helper T-cells signal cytotoxic T-cells, B-cells and another type of white blood cell called a macrophage.
T-cell therapy(TCRs) and CAR T-cell therapy(CARs):
- Unlike CARs, which use portions of synthetic antibodies that can recognize specific antigens only on the surface of cells, TCRs use naturally occurring receptors that can also recognize antigens that are inside tumor cells