The site of primary T cell activation is a determinant of the balance between intrahepatic tolerance and immunity.

ABSTRACT: Hepatic immunobiology is paradoxical: although the liver possesses unusual tolerogenic properties, it is also the site of effective immune responses against multiple pathogens and subject to immune-mediated pathology. The mechanisms underlying this dichotomy remain unclear. Following previous work demonstrating that the liver may act as a site of primary T cell activation, we demonstrate here that the balance between immunity and tolerance in this organ is established by competition for primary activation of CD8+ T cells between the liver and secondary lymphoid tissues, with the immune outcome determined by the initial site of activation. Using a transgenic mouse model in which antigen is expressed within both liver and lymph nodes, we show that while naive CD8+ T cells activated within th

SUBMITTER: Bowen DG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC514586 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature