Mini-review CD4 T cells are required for CD8 T cell memory generation.
Whereas the role of CD4 T cells in B cell memory generation is well established and unequivocal, the role that CD4 T cells play in CD8 responses was until recently far more elusive and controversial. A series of recent reports, however, have re-assessed the role of CD4 help on CD8 responses and have given rise to surprisingly unambiguous conclusions. While studying very different systems, they demonstrated that CD4 T cells are absolutely required for the generation of bona fide CD8 memory cells; the reports allow, for the first time, strong analogies to be made between B and CD8 memory cell generation. These data invite us to drastically change our idea of CD4 help on CD8 responses because they show that the old dichotomy - Th-dependent versus Th-independent CD8 responses - is no longer accurate.
Bourgeois
Christine
C
INSERM U.591, Institut Necker, Paris, France.
Tanchot
Corinne
C
D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000502:physiology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology; D019013:CD40 Antigens / Q000502:physiology; D023201:CD40 Ligand / Q000502:physiology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory
D019013:CD40 Antigens; D023201:CD40 Ligand