IL-27 promotes the expansion of self-renewing CD8⁺ T cells in persistent viral infection.

ABSTRACT: Chronic infection and cancer are associated with suppressed T cell responses in the presence of cognate antigen. Recent work identified memory-like CXCR5⁺ TCF1⁺ CD8⁺ T cells that sustain T cell responses during persistent infection and proliferate upon anti-PD1 treatment. Approaches to expand these cells are sought. We show that blockade of interferon type 1 (IFN-I) receptor leads to CXCR5⁺ CD8⁺ T cell expansion in an IL-27- and STAT1-dependent manner. IFNAR1 blockade promoted accelerated cell division and retention of TCF1 in virus-specific CD8⁺ T cells. We found that CD8⁺ T cell-intrinsic IL-27 signaling safeguards the ability of TCF1^hi cells to maintain proliferation and avoid terminal differentiatio

SUBMITTER: Huang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6683984 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature