Selective expression of the interleukin 7 receptor identifies effector CD8 T cells that give rise to long-lived memory cells.
A major unanswered question is what distinguishes the majority of activated CD8 T cells that die after an acute viral infection from the small fraction (5-10%) that survive to become long-lived memory cells. In this study we show that increased expression of the interleukin 7 receptor alpha-chain (IL-7Ralpha) identifies the effector CD8 T cells that will differentiate into memory cells. IL-7R(hi) effector cells contained increased amounts of antiapoptotic molecules, and adoptive transfer of IL-7R(hi) and IL-7R(lo) effector cells showed that IL-7R(hi) cells preferentially gave rise to memory cells that could persist and confer protective immunity. Thus, selective expression of IL-7R identifies memory cell precursors, and this marker may be useful in predicting the number of memory T cells generated after infection or immunization.
Kaech
Susan M
SM
Emory Vaccine Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1510 Clifton Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.
Tan
Joyce T
JT
Wherry
E John
EJ
Konieczny
Bogumila T
BT
Surh
Charles D
CD
Ahmed
Rafi
R
D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology*; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000276:immunology; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000276:immunology; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008216:Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis / Q000276:immunology; D008217:Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D020395:Receptors, Interleukin-7 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000276:immunology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology
D000954:Antigens, Surface; D020395:Receptors, Interleukin-7