T cell

A type of white blood cells of the immune system that plays a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells are born from hematopoietic stem cells, and then migrate to the thymus gland to mature. T cell has two major subtypes: CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and CD4+ helper T cells. Cytotoxic T cells mainly function by directly killing virus-infected cells, as well as cancer cells. Helper T cells mainly function by further activating memory B cells and cytotoxic T cells, which leads to a larger immune response.