A discovery about the mechanisms that enable the immune system to sustain long-term protection could revolutionize treatment for chronic disease and cancer.
A new advance may make it possible to use off-the-shelf CAR T cells provided by healthy donors. The new approach studied in mice equipped CAR T cells with the viral protein Nef.
Prolonged illnesses like cancer and chronic infections often leave the immune system in a state of exhaustion, where its frontline defenders -- T cells -- lose their ability to function effectively.