Mouse Study Could Aid Vaccine Designers

Investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have conducted studies in mice to gain a new picture of how the immune system's "killer" T cells are prompted to destroy infected cells. Their insights provide a blueprint for rational design of vaccines that induce desired T-cell responses. The findings are published in this week's Science. "If we are correct, what we've found will put rational vaccine design on a firmer footing," says Jonathan Yewdell, M.D., Ph.D., who led the NIAID team.