Sleep could enhance the target ability of immune cells inside human body to help fight off infection, a recent study said.
"This finding shows that sleep has the potential to enhance the efficiency of effector T cell responses," according to the report.
Researchers said that compared with the wake condition, sleep significantly increased the mean fluorescence intensity of T cells, a type of white blood cell that fights off infection inside human body.
"Our results demonstrate that a couple of hours of sleep loss suffice to reduce the adhesion capacity of antigen-specific T cells," according to the study published Tuesday in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reports Xinhua.
The findings could help develop new therapeutic strategies with the aim of improving the target ability of T cells, especially when they are killing tumour cells.
