EurekAlert -- A team of Canadian and Finnish scientists has identified a protein able to stimulate the production of T-cells, the white blood cells involved in the recognition and the elimination of infectious agents. The discovery by researchers of the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) at the Université de Montréal in Canada and the University of Oulu in Finland – published in the latest edition of the journal Immunity – could help to combat age-related declines in immune response.