London : Scientists have discovered a protein that plays a central role in promoting immunity to viruses and cancer, an advance that may open the door to new therapies, reports PTI.
Researchers from Imperial College London and colleagues in experiments in mice and human cells found that the protein promotes the proliferation of cytotoxic T cells, which kill cancer cells and cells infected with viruses.
The discovery was unexpected because the new protein had no known function and does not resemble any other protein.
\The team, which also included researchers from Queen Mary University of London, ETH Zurich and Harvard Medical School, is now developing a gene therapy designed to boost the infection-fighting cells, and hope to begin human trials in three years.
Cytotoxic T cells are an important component of the immune system, but when faced with serious infections or advanced cancer, they are often unable to proliferate in large enough quantities to fight the disease.
