Melbourne, Feb. 1 -- Prolonged illnesses, such as cancer and persistent infections, can fatigue the immune system, causing its frontline defenders, T cells, to lose their ability to act efficiently.

The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) have discovered a unique type of immune cell known as stem-like T cells, which is essential for maintaining potent, long-term immune responses.

The study revealed that the endurance of these stem-like T cells is fuelled by a protein called ID3, expressed by a gene of the same name. These ID3+ T cells have a unique ability to self-renew and resist exhaustion, giving them the power to sustain immune responses far longer ...