LA JOLLA Here's my take on a scientific paper of potentially
great significance. The language gets technical at times, so
I've added links to scientific terms that you can follow to
learn about them. A molecular call to arms that turns white
blood cells called 'helper' T cells into pathogen-destroying
'killer' T cells has been identified by a team led by
researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology.
The discovery could be of use in goading the immune system to
make more of the CD4+ killer cells, which target bacteria,
viruses, malignant and other damaged cells. A paper on the
discovery was published Sunday in Nature Immunology. It is
titled: "Transcriptional reprogramming of mature CD4 helper T
cells generates distinct MHC class II-restricted cytotoxic T
lymphocytes." (CD4+ refers to a kind of molecule found on the
surface of these cells, used to identify them. For example, the
drug Rituxan works by binding to another molecule called CD20,
found on the surface of B cells, another type of whi