Tag Archives: monocytes

Study in Mice Raises Question: Could PTSD Involve Immune Cell Response to Stress?

After chronic stress, primed immune cells in spleen lead to excessive reaction to later event

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chronic stress that produces inflammation and anxiety in mice appears to prime their immune systems for a prolonged fight, causing the animals to have an excessive reaction to a single acute stressor weeks later, new research suggests.

After the mice recovered from the effects of chronic stress, a single stressful event 24 days later quickly returned them to a chronically stressed state in biological and behavioral terms. Mice that had not experienced the chronic stress were unaffected by the single acute stressor. (more…)

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Scientists Identify Novel Pathway for T Cell Activation in Leprosy

*Findings may help lead to new treatments for infectious diseases, cancer*

UCLA researchers have pinpointed a new mechanism that potently activates T cells, the group of white blood cells that plays a major role in fighting infections.

The team specifically studied how dendritic cells, immune cells located at the site of an infection, become more specialized to fight the leprosy pathogen known as Mycobacterium leprae. Dendritic cells, like scouts in the field of a military operation, deliver key information about an invading pathogen that helps activate the T cells in launching a more effective attack. (more…)

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