T helper cell

type of immune cell
(Redirected from Helper T cell)

T helper cells are a kind of lymphocyte blood cell, produced in the thymus. They do not kill or eat bacteria. What they do is to help other immune cells target onto infecting bacteria. They activate T-killer cells (cytotoxic T cells) and B cells to kill infecting bacteria or cells that are infected by viruses.

Genetic variants in T helper genes are associated with autoimmune diseases.[1]

T helpers get attacked by the HIV virus.

References

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  1. Burren, Oliver S.; Rubio García, Arcadio; Javierre, Biola-Maria; Rainbow, Daniel B.; Cairns, Jonathan; Cooper, Nicholas J.; Lambourne, John J.; Schofield, Ellen; Castro Dopico, Xaquin; Ferreira, Ricardo C.; Coulson, Richard (2017-09-04). "Chromosome contacts in activated T cells identify autoimmune disease candidate genes". Genome Biology. 18 (1): 165. doi:10.1186/s13059-017-1285-0. ISSN 1474-760X. PMC 5584004. PMID 28870212.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)