CD4⁺ virtual memory: Antigen-inexperienced T cells reside in the naive, regulatory, and memory T cell compartments at similar frequencies, implications for autoimmunity.

ABSTRACT: It is widely accepted that central and effector memory CD4⁺ T cells originate from naïve T cells after they have encountered their cognate antigen in the setting of appropriate co-stimulation. However, if this were true the diversity of T cell receptor (TCR) sequences within the naïve T cell compartment should be far greater than that of the memory T cell compartment, which is not supported by TCR sequencing data. Here we demonstrate that aged mice with far fewer naïve T cells, respond to the model antigen, hen eggwhite lysozyme (HEL), by utilizing the same TCR sequence as their younger counterparts. CD4⁺ T cell repertoire analysis of highly purified T cell populations from naive animals revealed that the HEL-specific clones displayed effector and central "memory" cel

SUBMITTER: Marusina AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6066671 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature