Killing of targets by CD8 T cells in the mouse spleen follows the law of mass action.

ABSTRACT: It has been difficult to correlate the quality of CD8 T cell responses with protection against viral infections. To investigate the relationship between efficacy and magnitude of T cell responses, we quantify the rate at which individual CD8 effector and memory T cells kill target cells in the mouse spleen. Using mathematical modeling, we analyze recent data on the loss of target cells pulsed with three different peptides from the mouse lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) in mouse spleens with varying numbers of epitope-specific CD8 T cells. We find that the killing of targets follows the law of mass-action, i.e., the death rate of individual target cells remains proportional to the frequency (or the total number) of specific CD8 T cells in the spleen despite the fact that effector c

SUBMITTER: Ganusov VV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3025913 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature