Wednesday, January 12, 2022

More is not Necessarily Better

 Just an observation regarding "boosters". There is the phenomenon called T cell exhaustion

The authors note:

T cells exposed to persistent antigen and/or inflammatory signals in chronic infection or cancer can become 'exhausted', a state characterized by a hierarchical loss of effector functions and memory T cell properties, and by the expression of multiple inhibitory receptors. T cell exhaustion prevents optimal control of infections and tumours, but modulating inhibitory pathways that are overexpressed in exhaustion can reverse this dysfunctional state and reinvigorate immune responses. Exhausted T cells are a distinct lineage of differentiated T cells; these cells are phenotypically and mechanistically different from other dysfunctional states of T cells such as anergy and senescence.

Often found in chronic infections like Hepatitis C and cancers it occurs when the infection, including antibodies, continually bombard the immune system. Perhaps, as yet unknown, the bombarding with boosters may result in T cell exhaustion and thus loss of any putative immunity. So one must beware that more may be worse not better.