"This explains why babies and young children are more vulnerable to recurrent respiratory infections and other infectious diseases compared with adults." "We found that memory T cells in young children are not functionally mature and only begin to have the capacity for protective immunity at around ages 4 to 6 years," Farber says. ![]() These cells enable older children and adults to mount an immediate and specific immune response during the next encounter with a pathogen. One study, published in Immunity, found that specialized immune cells called memory T cells - formed after first exposure to a pathogen - accumulate rapidly in the lungs and intestines through age 3 and more gradually in blood and lymph tissues. Immune cells in lungs and gut take time to mature ![]() Using a trove of tissue samples from deceased pediatric organ donors, Farber's team was able to pinpoint aspects of immune system development that distinguish babies from adults. "But mice develop much more quickly than humans and their immune systems are a bit different than ours." ![]() "We know little about how the immune system develops throughout life, and most of what we know about immune system development in children comes from animal studies," says Donna Farber, PhD, an expert in immune system development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons who led the research.
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