Scientists have uncovered new genetic rules that determine whether the immune system’s “killer” T cells remain powerful long-term defenders or become worn out and ineffective. By building a detailed ...

A cancer drug class best known for attacking tumors may also help your immune system remember them better. Researchers at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center report that ...

CD8 + cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) serve as central effectors in cancer immunotherapy by directly eliminating tumor cells. However, current clinical therapies face significant limitations. These ...

Meet the Jekyll and Hyde of the immune system: activated CD8⁺ T cells. On June 24 in Nature Immunology, researchers led by Dorian McGavern at the National Institutes of Health introduce a granzyme ...

The ability of immune cells-particularly CD8 + T cells-to launch a rapid burst of proliferation inside tumors is key to the success of modern day cancer immunotherapies. However, the factors and ...

Killer immune cells destroy cancer cells and cells infected by virus. These CD8 + T cells are activated after detection of viral infection or growth of "non-self" tumor cells. However, in chronic ...

As the trained killers of the immune system, cytotoxic T cells silently save our lives every day—vanquishing viruses before they can run amok, and putting nascent cancer cells out of business before ...