Researchers gave 10 people with HIV a complex regimen of experimental immunotherapies, then discontinued the daily pills that kept the virus at bay. In six participants, the virus rebounded slowly and stayed at a low level for months, and one person's immune system kept the virus in check for more than a year and a half - giving scientists hope that they could optimize the approach to create a cure.
The class of immune cells at the centre of Monday's Nobel prize is showing promise as a treatment for autoimmune diseases, cancer and even organ transplants - but there are still key challenges to overcome before these cells can be used in therapies in the clinic. Regulatory T cells, or T reg cells, help to prevent the body from attacking its own tissues.
Scientists in the laboratory of Weiguo Cui, PhD, professor of Pathology in the Division of Experimental Pathology, have identified novel molecular mechanisms that help specialized T-cells maintain long-term immunity in response to chronic infection and cancer, according to recent findings published in Nature Immunology. Previous work from Cui's laboratory and others revealed that exhausted T-cells, or T-cells that have become dysfunctional after chronic antigen stimulation such as chronic infection and cancer, comprise different subgroups of T-cells.
