Feed Immune Response Altered For Viruses Like HIV And Hepatitis C (sciencedaily.com)
After an acute viral infection, some T cells generated to kill virus-infected cells remain on guard to establish long-term immunity. These so-called memory T cells, which derive from CD8 T cells, engage in a self-renewal process essential to their persistence. Now, a new study shows that the CD8 T cells produced to fight a chronic infection operate under an entirely different maintenance scheme than do the CD8 T cells that become memory T cells.