Changes in functional but not structural avidity during differentiation of CD8+ effector cells in vivo after virus infection.

ABSTRACT: By the peak of the CD8(+) T cell response, the effector cell pool consists of a heterogeneous population of cells that includes both those with an increased propensity to become long-lived memory cells (memory precursor effector cells; MPEC) and those that are terminally differentiated cells (short-lived effector cells; SLEC). Numerous studies have established the critical role that functional avidity plays in determining the in vivo efficacy of CD8(+) effector cells. Currently, how functional avidity differs in MPEC versus SLEC and the evolution of this property within these two populations during the expansion and contraction of the response are unknown. The data presented in this study show that at the peak of the effector response generated after poxvirus infection, SLEC were of higher

SUBMITTER: Amoah S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3397685 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature