Killer T cells decide whether to stick around in your body based on nothing more than how firm the tissue feels, a finding with implications for eczema, allergies and cancer treatment. Samantha Yammine unpacks new McGill University research on the surprising role of touch in your immune system.
These are memory T cells, the ones that survive a fight and settle into the tissue where it happened, ready in case trouble returns to that exact spot. It offers a new clue as to why flare-ups like eczema tend to reappear in the same place instead of moving around.
The discovery also opens a new angle on cancer therapy, since CAR T cells engineered to fight tumours often struggle against solid, stiff growths. Understanding how tissue stiffness changes their behaviour could help make one of medicine’s most promising cancer treatments effective.
Topics: killer T cells, tissue stiffness, memory T cells, eczema, CAR T cell therapy
GUEST: Samantha Yammine | Samantha Yammine, PhD (Science Sam) – Neuroscientist & Science Communicator | @science.cam
Originally aired on2026-08-18
