Abstract
The magnitude of antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses is not fixed but correlates with the severity of infection. Although by definition T cell response size is the product of both the capacity to recruit naïve T cells (clonal selection) and their subsequent proliferation (clonal expansion), it remains undefined how these two factors regulate antigen-specific T cell responses. We determined the relative contribution of recruitment and expansion by labeling naïve T cells with unique genetic tags and transferring them into mice. Under disparate infection conditions with different pathogens and doses, recruitment of antigen-specific T cells was near constant and close to complete. Thus, naïve T cell recruitment is highly efficient, and the magnitude of antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses is primarily controlled by clonal expansion.
MeSH terms
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Adoptive Transfer
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Ampicillin / therapeutic use
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Animals
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Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
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Antigens / immunology*
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Antigens, Bacterial / immunology
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Antigens, Viral / immunology
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CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
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Dendritic Cells / immunology
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Epitopes / immunology
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Genes, T-Cell Receptor alpha
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Genes, T-Cell Receptor beta
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Influenza A virus / immunology
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Listeriosis / drug therapy
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Listeriosis / immunology*
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Lymphocyte Activation*
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Lymphocyte Count
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Mice
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Mice, Inbred C57BL
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Mice, Transgenic
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Orthomyxoviridae Infections / immunology
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Ovalbumin / immunology
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Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / chemistry
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Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / immunology
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Spleen / immunology
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Vaccinia / immunology
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Virus Diseases / immunology*
Substances
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Anti-Bacterial Agents
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Antigens
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Antigens, Bacterial
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Antigens, Viral
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Epitopes
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Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta
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Ampicillin
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Ovalbumin