Word: helper
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...things are looking up, thanks to advances in immunology that have spurred the creation of a new generation of drugs. It is becoming clear that a cell called CD4, or helper T cell, is a key player in both healthy and autoimmune responses. "T-cell activation--like the branches of government--is controlled by a series of checks and balances," explains Dr. C. Garrison Fathman, a clinical immunologist at Stanford University...
...cell's dependence on another cellular player: the antigen-presenting cell. The APC is an omnivorous creature whose job, among other things, is to gobble up microbial invaders. To initiate the immune response, the APC coughs up a molecule from the bug it has eaten, latches on to a helper T cell and "presents" it with a target molecule, instructing the T cell to prepare its troops for war. This activation is tightly controlled; it cannot occur without the lockstep interaction of several proteins on both cells--one of which is known...
...things may be looking up, thanks to advances in molecular immunology that have spurred the creation of new generation of drugs. It is becoming clear that a cell called CD4+, or helper T cell, is a central player in both the healthy and the pathological immune response. "The activation of the T cell-like the branches of government-is controlled by a series of checks and balances," explains Dr. C. Garrison Fathman, a clinical immunologist at Stanford University...
...cell’s dependence on another cellular player: the antigen presenting cell. The APC is an omnivorous creature whose job, among other things, is to gobble up microbial invaders. To initiate the immune response, the APC coughs up a molecule from the bug it has eaten, latches onto a helper T cell and "presents" it with the target molecule, instructing the T cell to prepare its troops for war. This activation is tightly controlled. It cannot occur without the lock-step interaction of a several proteins on the surface of both cells-one of which is known...
That story, in fact, has inspired trials of nearly two dozen new biotech medicines. IDEC Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, Calif., for example, has zeroed in on the interactions between helper T cells and APCs to develop antibody drugs against lupus and RA. Their anti-RA antibody selectively switches off T cells involved in autoimmune responses by binding the CD4 molecule on their surfaces. Amgen, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., has developed a drug that works by blocking Interleukin-1, another molecule that promotes inflammation...