T cells as trained killers

Dendritic Cells as Killers: Mechanistic Aspects

Zinc oxide nanoparticles as selective killers of proliferating cells

BACKGROUND It has recently been demonstrated that zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) induce death of cancerous cells whilst having no cytotoxic effect on normal cells. However, there are several issues which need to be resolved before translation of zinc oxide nanoparticles into medical use, including lack of suitable biocompatible dispersion protocols and a better understanding being needed of...

T cell apoptosis : about killers and victims

1 T lymphocytes are important regulatory cells that help to orchestrate our immune system to defend our body from harmful pathogens. However, not all T cell-mediated immune responses are beneficial. Uncontrolled T cell activation and expansion is the underlying cause of many destructive diseases. The more we understand about these diseases and their regulation, the more it becomes evident that ...

Notwithstanding Circumstantial Alibis, Cytotoxic T Cells Can Be Major Killers of HIV-1-Infected Cells

UNLABELLED Several experiments suggest that in the chronic phase of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) contribute very little to the death of productively infected cells. First, the expected life span of productively infected cells is fairly long, i.e., about 1 day. Second, this life span is hardly affected by the depletion of CD8(+) T ce...

Exploitation of gamma delta T cells in cancer immunotherapy as combined antigen-presenters and cancer cell killers

The human Vg9Vδ2 T cells are a unique T cell type, and recent studies of the biology of Vg9Vδ2 T cells emphasize the potential exploitation of these cells in immunotherapy of cancer. Vg9Vδ2 T cells exhibit dual functionality in that they are both antigen-presenting cells and cytotoxic towards cancer cells. We have been able to show that Vg9Vδ2 T cells can kill cancer cells from various cancer t...