Nat Immunol: Scientists have created the first complete map that reveals how immune cells fight off and "remember" infections in the body

Oct 19, 2020 // -- Now researchers have mapped the activity of thousands of genes in the body's immune cells throughout the infection process, according to a study published in the international journal Nature Immunology by scientists at the University of Melbourne and others. The results are expected to help scientists delve deeper into specific types of immune cells to develop new vaccines and therapies for a range of diseases, such as CD4-T cells, that are critical to the body's immunity, as the study is the first to develop a complete dynamic map of immune cells learning to fight microbial infections and subsequently preserve memory for future infections.
Photo Source: In the CC0 Public Domain article, researchers studied CD4-T cells in mice infected with malaria-inducing parasites that invade and multiply in red blood cells, and with the help of machine learning, combined and analyzed genetic activity data around mouse infections to produce a comprehensive map of cd4-T cell development. 'By tracking thousands of genes, we have created a variety of immune roles, from the initial stage of infection to cell decision to fight infection, to a complete map that preserves the memory of previously encountered pathogens, which reveals some very active new genes in T-filter-assisted cells, a type of CD4-T cell), that are essential for producing antibodies that protect the body against malaria but have not yet been fully studied,' said
researcher Ashraful Haque.
researchers now share their data through a free digital resource, a new map that could also help immunologists around the world track the response of individual genes to an individual's infection.
, researcher Dr Sarah Teichmann, said it was important that although our map was produced using experimental models of malaria, it was useful for later studies of almost any infectious or non-infectious disease, as well as treatments involving T-cells. Later in the
, researchers will continue to delve into whether human cells have CD4-plus T cells similar to those found in mice, and the researchers hope the findings will give them direction to help develop new vaccines for infectious diseases, immunotherapy for specific cancers, and strategies to effectively prevent autoimmune diseases.
() Originals: Soon, M.S.F., Lee, H.J., Engel, J.A. et al. Transcriptome dynamics of CD4 plus T cells when malaria maps gradual transit from effector to memory. Nat Immunol (2020). doi:10.1038/s41590-020-0800-8