T cell

A T cell is a type of lymphocyte, a white blood cell. T-cells play an important role in the immune system. They attack infected cells, foreign cells, and cancer cells and completely destroy them. This stops viruses or cancer from spreading to healthy cells.

The "T" in T cell stands for thymus. The thymus is where T cells mature.

500px|A diagram showing the activation of T cells

 Types 
 Cytotoxic T cells (Tc cells)

 Helper T cells, (Th cells) 

 Regulatory T cells (Treg cells), used to be called suppressor T cells

 Natural Killer T cells (NKT cells) 

 γδ T cells 

 Related pages 
Major histocompatibility complex

 Other websites 
 Janeway, Charles A. et al. 2001. Immunobiology. 5th ed, New York and London: Garland. 
 The Immune System (PDF)
 (Successful!) Treatment of metastatic melanoma with autologous CD4+ T cells against NY-ESO-1 

Category:Immunology
Category:Blood cells