Title

Defects in Apoptosis Increase Memory CD8+ T cells Following Infection of Bim^-/- Fas^lpr/lpr Mice

Authors

Ashley E. Weant, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Ryan D. Michalek, Metabolon Corporation
Katie E. Crump, Wake Forest University School of MedicineFollow
Andrew P. Konopitski, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Jason M. Grayson, Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2011

Publication Title

Cellular Immunology

Keywords

Apoptosis, Viral infection, Cytolytic T cells

ISSN

0008-8749

Volume

271

Issue/No.

2

First Page

256

Last Page

266

Abstract

During many infections, large numbers of effector CD8⁺ T cells are generated. After pathogen clearance, the majority of these cells undergo apoptosis, while the survivors differentiate into memory CD8⁺ T cells. Although loss of both Bim and Fas function dramatically increased antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells in the lymph nodes following acute lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection, it was unclear whether they were pardoned effector or true memory CD8⁺ T cells. In this study, we demonstrate they are bona fide memory T cells as characterized by surface marker expression, cytokine production, homeostatic proliferation, and ability to clear a secondary challenge of pathogen. Loss of both Bim and Fas also increased the number of virus-specific CD4⁺ T cells found in the lymph nodes compared to the parental genotypes or wildtype mice. These studies illustrate that decreasing apoptosis increases the number of memory T cells and therefore could increase the efficacy of vaccines.

NSUWorks Citation

Weant, Ashley E.; Ryan D. Michalek; Katie E. Crump; Andrew P. Konopitski; and Jason M. Grayson. 2011. "Defects in Apoptosis Increase Memory CD8+ T cells Following Infection of Bim^-/- Fas^lpr/lpr Mice." Cellular Immunology 271, (2): 256-266. doi:10.1016/j.cellimm.2011.07.003.

DOI

10.1016/j.cellimm.2011.07.003