Differential cytokine withdrawal-induced death sensitivity of effector T cells derived from distinct human CD8⁺ memory subsets.

ABSTRACT: CD8⁺ central memory (CM) and effector memory (EM) T-cell subsets exhibit well-established differences in proliferative and protective capacity after infectious challenge. However, their relative sensitivity to apoptosis has been largely overlooked, despite the importance of programmed cell death in regulating effector T-cell homeostasis. Here we demonstrate that primary human effector T cells derived from the CD8⁺ EM subset exhibit significantly higher sensitivity to cytokine withdrawal-induced cell death (CWID), a critical intrinsic apoptosis program responsible for culling cells once an infection is cleared and interleukin-2 (IL-2) levels diminish. Interestingly, we found no differences in the expression of IL-2 or IL-2 receptor components in cells originating from

SUBMITTER: Larsen SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5447130 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature