What is T cell exhaustion?

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[@dilemmit]

What's the lifespan of a T cell after maturation from the thymus?

[@beingsentient]

I don't think the explanation that T cells get "tired or exhausted" explains anything. It's used, I believe, as a shorthand concept to offer to the layman using the simple terminology the layman understands. When we people get tired and exhausted, we have a good idea of what it means, and our response involves many dozens of different subsystems in the body. With T-cells, however, we are at a much finer focus, and I thank the researchers in this video that deliver the simple truth: "We don't know."

[@KigurumiAlice]

😢 Have they tried infusing new T Cell in replace or replenish exhausted ones. Keep on chaining this like maintenance therapy. At the the moment only I infusion is made in the treatment.

[@johnc2217]

It's not that easy because the T cells that are made in your body have passed checkpoints, that's why they get to live. A very important checkpoint (not the only one) is negative selectio, which refers to a stage in the T cell development where DCs in the medulla of the thymus present self-antigens to the developing T cells in the thymus to make sure that the T cells do not react to those antigens, because if they do, they will get killed to prevent autoimmunity.