Vindictive T-lymphocytes
Memory T-lymphocytes – those immune cells that, after the first meeting with a previously unknown pathogen, remain in the body in an amount sufficient for a quick reaction at a second meeting – increase their number at each of these repeated meetings. This means that there are groundless fears that vaccination against one disease reduces immunity to others.
The hypothesis, which seems quite logical to a layman, was confirmed by David Masopust and co-authors of the publication in Nature, estimating the number of corresponding T-killers in the body of mice after each vaccination with the same antigen.
In fact, it's not that simple. Millions of T-cells circulate in the body of each of us, differing from each other only by a receptor determined at birth. This T-cell receptor is responsible for targeted binding to a specific antigen. In the case of the first contact with an antigen "unknown" to the body, the corresponding T-cells are activated by the immune system and divide, forming the corresponding clone. As soon as the number of foreign particles decreases, the number of T cells decreases again, but there are memory T cells that no longer need the coveted activation to start dividing at the next meeting, which means that it will take much less time to respond.
Previously, it was believed that the number of these cells is constant, due to a kind of competition between them, and does not increase with repeated encounters with antigens. Having demonstrated that this is not the case, Masopust and his colleagues removed the question of the safety of using T-cell vaccines, potentially capable of displacing other memory cells.
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