title: Estimation of the rate of killing by cytotoxic T lymphocytes in vivo.
abstract: Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) help control virus infections by killing virus-infected (target) cells. How fast do CTL find and kill target cells in vivo? Experiments allow us to follow populations of labeled target cells after their transfer into immune mice where they are killed by CTL. Here, we develop models of the migration and killing processes involved in these experiments and use them to quantitatively analyze the in vivo killing data. These models allow us to estimate the rate constant for killing of target cells by CTL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. roland.regoes@env.eth.ch
authors.forename: Roland R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Regoes
authors.forename: Daniel L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: Rafi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Rustom
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Antia
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death; D002465:Cell Movement; D007107:Immune System; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008954:Models, Biological; D018448:Models, Immunological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013154:Spleen / Q000378:metabolism; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology*