[neverdem]

Selective CD4+ T cell help for antibody responses to a large viral pathogen: deterministic linkage of specificities.

[Marie]

btt

[neverdem]

micro ping

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping...(Thanks, neverdem!)

[Myrddin]

That's good info. Real science at work.

[SunkenCiv]

"Previously, it was thought that the CD4 T cell could react to any part of the virus, but now we realize it must be specific to the same part as the B cell," he explained. "When you have a hundred different parts, this knowledge makes a big difference. It narrows down the search for the right antigens tremendously." Scientists use knowledge of which antigens (virus pieces) trigger an antibody attack to develop vaccines... "So now when we find out which viral pieces are producing a strong response from the B cells, we can cross check that against the viral pieces eliciting a good response from the CD4 T cells. The point at which these virus pieces cross - in other words where the same piece is eliciting a response from both the B cells and CD4 T cells - then we know we have found our best candidate for creating a vaccine."

Thanks neverdem.

[OB1kNOb]

Any new evidence on how to combat viruses more effectively is great. It’s amazing how little the medical field knows how to overcome viral based diseases as compared to bacterial, or at least that’s been my experiences with doctors in the past. Viruses are particularly nasty buggers.