Researchers at Cardiff University have
discovered that a molecule responsible for guiding virus-killing
T-cells to the site of infection is also responsible for rapidly
increasing T-cell numbers to fight infection, making it an
important new target for the development of more effective drugs
to treat both viruses and cancers.
The team, which also includes researchers
from the MRC National Institute for Medical
Research (now part of the
Francis Crick
Institute), made
the new discovery while studying how killer T-cells detect
viruses and relocate to the part of the body where the virus is
replicating, such as the lungs in people with
flu.
Professor Ann Ager, from Cardiff University,
who led the research, said: “Up until know we didn’t know much
about the mechanism by which T-cells are able to rapidly increase
in number to fight infection. While looking at the role of the
molecule L-selectin in guiding T-cells to an infection, we
unlocked this secret and found that this molecule also controls
the vital proliferation of killer T-cells.”
The research revealed that an enzyme called
ADAM17 is responsible for removing the L-selectin molecule from
the surface of T-cells which somehow results in their
proliferation.
Professor Ager added: “This could prove to be a
very powerful piece of knowledge, as we now have a mechanism to
study, and potentially replicate, in the development of new drugs
that could boost T-cell production and improve treatment for a
number of viral infections. This would be especially beneficial
to people who are immunocompromised and at higher risk of
complications from infection.
“Future studies will be aimed at finding
precisely how enzymatic removal of a molecule from the surface of
T-cells is linked to their proliferation.”
Notes for
editors
The study was funded by the
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Kurdistan
Regional Government/Iraq, School of Medicine, Cardiff University,
the Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological
Research Council and Cancer Research UK.
