Strong homeostatic TCR signals induce formation of self-tolerant virtual memory CD8 T cells

We describe two molecular mechanisms driving the formation of virtual memory T cells. First, virtual memory T cells originate exclusively from strongly self-reactive T cells. Second, the stoichiometry of the CD8 interaction with Lck regulates the size of the virtual memory T-cell compartment via modulating the self-reactivity of individual T cells. Although virtual memory T cells descend from the highly self-reactive clones and acquire a partial memory program, they are not more potent in inducing experimental autoimmune diabetes than naïve T cells. These data underline the importance of the variable level of self-reactivity in polyclonal T cells for the generation of functional T-cell diversity.

Source: EMBO Journal - July 13, 2018 Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Drobek, A., Moudra, A., Mueller, D., Huranova, M., Horkova, V., Pribikova, M., Ivanek, R., Oberle, S., Zehn, D., McCoy, K. D., Draber, P., Stepanek, O. Tags: Immunology Articles Source Type: research