A Possible Way to Target Exhausted T-Cells For Destruction

In this study, we demonstrate that, in contrast to CD8+ T cells from healthy donors, antigen-specific CD8+ T cells responding to chronic viral infection in humans and a mouse model express high levels of biochemically active CD39. CD39+ CD8+ T cells co-express PD-1 and are enriched for a gene signature of T cell exhaustion. In the mouse model of chronic LCMV infection, high levels of CD39 expression demarcate terminally differentiated virus-specific CD8+ T cells within the pool of exhausted CD8+ T cells. Thus, CD39 provides a specific, pathological marker of exhausted CD8+ T cells in chronic viral infection in humans and mouse models of chronic viral infection. Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1005177
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