Researchers at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have found that a newly discovered “timekeeper” for fighting infections dramatically shapes the body’s immune defenses and offers insight as to why antiviral T cell response varies throughout the day.
The findings, published in Science Advances, could lead to new strategies for treating infections, using immunotherapies to combat cancer, and limiting the effects of body clock disruptors such as jet lag and shift work, according to UT Southwestern.
“The adrenaline receptor sets the internal clock of virus-specific T cells, which regulates how well they respond to viral infections at different times of the day,” said David Farrar, associate professor of immunology and molecular biology at UT Southwestern, who co-led the study with instructor of immunology Drashya Sharma…