Functional, Antigen-Specific Stem Cell Memory (T_SCM) CD4⁺ T Cells Are Induced by Human Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Maintenance of long-lasting immunity is thought to depend on stem cell memory T cells (T_SCM), which have superior self-renewing capacity, longevity and proliferative potential compared with central memory (T_CM) or effector (T_EFF) T cells. Our knowledge of T_SCM derives primarily from studies of virus-specific CD8⁺ T_SCM. We aimed to determine if infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), the etiological agent of tuberculosis, generates antigen-specific CD4⁺ T_SCM and to characterize their functional ontology.

Methods

We studied T cell responses to natural M. tb infection in a longitudinal adolescent cohort of recent QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT) converters

SUBMITTER: Mpande CAM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5839236 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature