CD4+ T cells that enter the draining lymph nodes after antigen injection participate in the primary response and become central-memory cells.
We explored the relationship between the time of naive CD4+ T cell exposure to antigen in the primary immune response and the quality of the memory cells produced. Naive CD4+ T cells that migrated into the skin-draining lymph nodes after subcutaneous antigen injection accounted for about half of the antigen-specific population present at the peak of clonal expansion. These late-arriving T cells divided less and more retained the central-memory marker CD62L than the T cells that resided in the draining lymph nodes at the time of antigen injection. The fewer cell divisions were related to competition with resident T cells that expanded earlier in the response and a reduction in the number of dendritic cells displaying peptide-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) II complexes at later times after antigen injection. The progeny of late-arriving T cells possessed the phenotype of central-memory cells, and proliferated more extensively during the secondary response than the progeny of the resident T cells. The results suggest that late arrival into lymph nodes and exposure to antigen-presenting cells displaying lower numbers of peptide-MHC II complexes in the presence of competing T cells ensures that some antigen-specific CD4+ T cells divide less in the primary response and become central-memory cells.
Department of Microbiology, Center for Immunology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. catro001@umn.edu
Drew M
DM
Catron
Lori K
LK
Rusch
Jason
J
Hataye
Andrea A
AA
Itano
Marc K
MK
Jenkins
D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000276:immunology; D002999:Clone Cells; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D007700:Kinetics; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology
D000941:Antigens; C111390:OVA 323-339; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010047:Ovalbumin