Word: helpers
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Beginning his career at Harvard as a mason's helper, Mills rose steadily through the ranks. In 1968 he earned a bachelor's degree through Harvard's extension program, and in the 1970s he became coordinator of a successful apprentice program for building and grounds workers...
...difference between a precipitous death and a few more months of hope. The drug blocks the AIDS virus from reproducing, thereby cutting dramatically the amount of virus circulating within the blood. At the same time, a victim's ravaged immune system can replenish some of its chief defenders, called helper T cells, which may double in number during AZT treatment. Yet the drug has two notorious drawbacks. One is its side effects, which can include severe anemia. But the more bitter issue is its cost. A year's supply for a person who takes twelve capsules...
...viruses, however, are not finished yet. Those still multiplying inside the body's cells are momentarily safe from scavengers and antibodies, but the free lunch is over quickly. While the B cells are being activated, other helper T cells have been creating an army of killer T cells. These killers recognize the flu-ridden cells because, like macrophages, infected cells display a bit of viral antigen on their outer membranes. Says Coffman: "For many viral infections, the most important response is the killer T cell. Viruses live inside cells, so it's essential to kill not only the viruses themselves...
Ever since the pioneering transplant operations of the 1960s, the chief obstacle to the full recovery of transplant patients has been the immune system's xenophobic zeal to destroy anything that is foreign to the body. Once the alien threat has been identified, agents known as helper T cells unleash the powerful immune response that attacks grafted tissue. During the 1970s, physicians found that they could minimize this reaction by more closely matching the MHC proteins, or immunological "dog tags," of a donor with those of the recipient. Even so, they could not completely eliminate the rejection response. To make...
Enter cyclosporine. Discovered in 1970 by a scientist at Sandoz, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, the drug was nearly abandoned as worthless. Unexpectedly, however, researchers found that it was a highly selective suppressor of helper T cells. By preventing the activation of the T cells, the drug interferes with the body's instinct to attack a transplanted organ. Yet unlike other suppressants, it does not affect other parts of the immune system. Cyclosporine is thus able to dampen the rejection reaction while leaving a large part of the body's infection-fighting defenses intact...