TAT2 could find applications in general ageing

NewScientist reports:<blockquote>“We are fairly confident at this point that TAT2 won’t enhance cancer development,” says Effros, although she cautions that further trials are needed to confirm this.

Effros and de Grey believe that TAT2 could also find applications in other diseases and general ageing - though these have not yet been tested. Killer T-cells fight many other viruses besides HIV, and often enter into a state of anergy - where they stop dividing but won’t die - in elderly people. Since response to flu vaccine in elderly people seems to be correlated with having lots of killer T-cells with short telomeres, “One can envision perhaps improving the vaccine response and other anti-viral responses in the elderly by TAT2,” says Effros.</blockquote>