Adjuvant IL-7 or IL-15 overcomes immunodominance and improves survival of the CD8+ memory cell pool.

ABSTRACT: Current models of T cell memory implicate a critical role for IL-7 in the effector-to-memory transition, raising the possibility that IL-7 therapy might enhance vaccine responses. IL-7 has not been studied, to our knowledge, before now for adjuvant activity. We administered recombinant human IL-7 (rhIL-7) to mice during immunization against the male antigen HY and compared these results with those obtained from mice immunized with rhIL-2 and rhIL-15. Administration of rhIL-7 or rhIL-15, but not rhIL-2, increased effector cells directed against these dominant antigens and dramatically enhanced CD8(+) effectors to subdominant antigens. The mechanisms by which the cytokines augmented effector pool generation were multifactorial and included rhIL-7-mediated costimulation and rhIL-15-mediated a

SUBMITTER: Melchionda F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1074679 | biostudies-literature | 2005 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature