title: B and T lymphocyte attenuator regulates CD8+ T cell-intrinsic homeostasis and memory cell generation.
abstract: B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) is a negative regulator of T cell activation, but its function in vivo is not well characterized. Here we show that mice deficient in full-length BTLA or its ligand, herpesvirus entry mediator, had increased number of memory CD8(+) T cells. The memory CD8(+) T cell phenotype resulted from a T cell-intrinsic perturbation of the CD8(+) T cell pool. Naive BTLA-deficient CD8(+) T cells were more efficient than wild-type cells at generating memory in a competitive antigen-specific system. This effect was independent of the initial expansion of the responding antigen-specific T cell population. In addition, BTLA negatively regulated antigen-independent homeostatic expansion of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. These results emphasize two central functions of BTLA in limiting T cell activity in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Krieg
authors.forename: Onur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Boyman
authors.forename: Yang-Xin
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaye
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000276:immunology*; D007156:Immunologic Memory / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010641:Phenotype; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C488868:BTLA protein, mouse; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic