T cells are your body's special agents. Some find cells that germs have taken over. Others are team captains that tell the other defenders what to do.
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T cells are a kind of white blood cell. They start out in your bone marrow. Then they travel to a small organ in your chest called the thymus. That's where the "T" in their name comes from!
The thymus is like a training school. There, young T cells learn to tell the difference between your own cells and invaders.
Your thymus is biggest and busiest when you are a kid. It slowly shrinks after you grow up.
Some germs, like the viruses that cause colds, sneak inside your cells and use them to make more germs. Antibodies can't reach them in there.
Scroll up to the 3D model and press Find the sick cell, then Stop the sick cell.
Helper T cells don't fight germs themselves. They act like team captains.
They send out chemical messages that wake up B cells to make antibodies, get killer T cells ready, and help macrophages eat germs better.
Like B cells, some T cells become memory cells. They remember a germ for a long time, so your body can act fast if it comes back.
By Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. Good for older kids.
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