Early specification of CD8+ T lymphocyte fates during adaptive immunity revealed by single-cell gene-expression analyses.

ABSTRACT: T lymphocytes responding to microbial infection give rise to effector cells that mediate acute host defense and memory cells that provide long-lived immunity, but the fundamental question of when and how these cells arise remains unresolved. Here we combined single-cell gene-expression analyses with 'machine-learning' approaches to trace the transcriptional 'roadmap' of individual CD8(+) T lymphocytes throughout the course of an immune response in vivo. Gene-expression signatures predictive of eventual fates could be discerned as early as the first T lymphocyte division and may have been influenced by asymmetric partitioning of the receptor for interleukin 2 (IL-2Rα) during mitosis. Our findings emphasize the importance of single-cell analyses in understanding fate determination and provid

SUBMITTER: Arsenio J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3968536 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature