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Researchers discover how cells remember infections decades later
- schmm 9y agoConfused about how this is new information. I remember learning the same thing 12 years ago in biology class.
- INTPenis 9y agoI'm also confused but only because I've learned that cells have varying life spans and the only cells I know that last decades are brain cells.
- user5994461 9y agoThe article goes far beyond than just "cells have variable lifespan".
- schmm 9y agoLooked at the paper, answer: that's what happens when vulgarization of scientific discoveries is so bad that it removes the actual discovery from the paper. Apparently the author discovered the existence of memory t cells when writing that article.
- maxerickson 9y agoYou are saying that you learned about the mechanism of the cellular memory? This study found that one way the pool is maintained for years after vaccination is through the development of several unique features. On the surface and through the actions of their genes, they look like cells that have never been exposed to an infection, but on their DNA the researchers found a fingerprint, called a methylation pattern, that identifies them as having been through battle as an infection-fighting cell, which are called effector cells.
- GunlogAlm 9y agoNo, you didn't. You may have learnt about immunological memory, but not the discovery this article is discussing.
- callesgg 9y agoTerribly written article.
- maxerickson 9y agoOriginal press release (phys.org just aggregates them): http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/12/13/researchers-discover-how-cells-remember-infections-decades-later/ http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/12/13/researchers-discover-how...
- phkahler 9y agoSo does donating blood on a regular basis reduce vaccine efficacy over time? It seems you'd be giving away the T-cells. For a person with 8 pints of blood, making 5 one pint donations would reduce the number of original T-cells by about half. Unless there is a storage place for them. Do these have an affinity for hanging out in the spleen compared to other cells? That would prevent their loss during bleeding.
- caraffle 9y agoFrom what I remember, T-cells (or was it B cells?) hang out in the lymph nodes.
- epmaybe 9y agoYes, the spleen is one location for lymphocytes to hang out, as well as lymph nodes and other locations. Memory B cells will retain their immunologic memory so you can quickly create the antibodies for pathogens after vaccination. I doubt vaccine efficacy would change much as a result.