T-Cell Exhaustion: Penn Med Investigation

In a recent press release, researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that T-cells, which are important fighters in the immune system, not only become “exhausted” from fighting cancer or viral infections, but they remain “exhausted” many weeks after these exposures. According to the press release, “exhaustion” leaves durable “epigenetic scars” in T cells that restrict their ability to support immune responses. T-cell function is critical to the immune system, especially in prolonged battles against cancers and viral infections. The findings of Penn researchers study lead to a need to discover how to reverse the “epigenetic scarring” that occurs in order to rejuvenate T-cell function after exposure to cancer and viral infections.

The findings of this study are published in Nature Immunology

Read the full press release here

Read more LDA articles on Immune Function here