0000000000705853

AUTHOR

Katrin Wiemann

T cell avidity determines the level of CTL activation

To investigate the influence of avidity on T cell activation in vitro and in vivo, we analyzed T cells from St40 and St42 mice, which express the same transgenic TCR specific for an E1a-derived epitope of adenovirus type 5 with different expression levels and therefore different avidities. Splenocytes from both strains showed comparable cytolytic activities and required identical peptide concentrations for efficient target cell lysis and up-regulation of activation markers. However, the kinetics of CD25 up-regulation were strikingly different: whereas the majority of the high-avidity St42 T cells up-regulated the IL-2Ralpha chain within a few hours, low-avidity St40 T cells expressed only 5…

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Glycoprotein 96-activated dendritic cells induce a CD8-biased T cell response.

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are able to induce protective immune responses against pathogens and tumors after injection into immunocompetent hosts. The activation of components of the adaptive immune system, including cytotoxic T lymphocytes specific for pathogen- or tumor-derived peptides, is crucial for the establishment of immuno- protection. Hsps acquire these peptides during intracellular protein degradation and when released during necrotic cell death, facilitate their uptake and Minor Histocompatibility Complex (MHC)-restricted representation by professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs). In addition, the interaction of Hsps with APCs, including the Endoplasmatic Reticulum (ER)-resi…

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