Recruitment of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in response to infection is markedly efficient
The magnitude of antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses is not fixed but correlates with the severity of infection. Although by definition T cell response size is the product of both the capacity to recruit naïve T cells (clonal selection) and their subsequent proliferation (clonal expansion), it re...
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| Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | article |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
2009
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1822/67645 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Oai: | oai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/67645 |
| Summary: | The magnitude of antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses is not fixed but correlates with the severity of infection. Although by definition T cell response size is the product of both the capacity to recruit naïve T cells (clonal selection) and their subsequent proliferation (clonal expansion), it remains undefined how these two factors regulate antigen-specific T cell responses. We determined the relative contribution of recruitment and expansion by labeling naïve T cells with unique genetic tags and transferring them into mice. Under disparate infection conditions with different pathogens and doses, recruitment of antigen-specific T cells was near constant and close to complete. Thus, naïve T cell recruitment is highly efficient, and the magnitude of antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses is primarily controlled by clonal expansion. |
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