Selective expression of the interleukin 7 receptor identifies effector CD8 T cells that give rise to long-lived memory cells

SM Kaech, JT Tan, EJ Wherry, BT Konieczny… - Nature …, 2003 - nature.com
SM Kaech, JT Tan, EJ Wherry, BT Konieczny, CD Surh, R Ahmed
Nature immunology, 2003nature.com
A major unanswered question is what distinguishes the majority of activated CD8 T cells that
die after an acute viral infection from the small fraction (5–10%) that survive to become long-
lived memory cells. In this study we show that increased expression of the interleukin 7
receptor α-chain (IL-7Rα) identifies the effector CD8 T cells that will differentiate into memory
cells. IL-7Rhi effector cells contained increased amounts of antiapoptotic molecules, and
adoptive transfer of IL-7Rhi and IL-7Rlo effector cells showed that IL-7Rhi cells preferentially …
Abstract
A major unanswered question is what distinguishes the majority of activated CD8 T cells that die after an acute viral infection from the small fraction (5–10%) that survive to become long-lived memory cells. In this study we show that increased expression of the interleukin 7 receptor α-chain (IL-7Rα) identifies the effector CD8 T cells that will differentiate into memory cells. IL-7Rhi effector cells contained increased amounts of antiapoptotic molecules, and adoptive transfer of IL-7Rhi and IL-7Rlo effector cells showed that IL-7Rhi cells preferentially gave rise to memory cells that could persist and confer protective immunity. Thus, selective expression of IL-7R identifies memory cell precursors, and this marker may be useful in predicting the number of memory T cells generated after infection or immunization.
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