| First Author | Tamang DL | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | Cell Immunol | Volume | 251 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 93-101 |
| PubMed ID | 18485336 | Mgi Jnum | J:137694 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3801534 | Doi | 10.1016/j.cellimm.2008.04.007 |
| Citation | Tamang DL, et al. (2008) Low dose IL-15 induces snap arming of CD44(low) T lymphocytes in the absence of antigen. Cell Immunol 251(2):93-101 |
| abstractText | It is widely accepted that naive T cells require two signals, antigen recognition and co-simulation, to become cytotoxic over the course of 3-5days. However, we observed that freshly isolated murine splenocytes without exposure to antigen become cytotoxic within 24h after culture with IL-15. IL-15 is a cytokine that promotes homeostatic proliferation, maintenance and activation of memory T cells. The induced cytotoxicity, measured by anti-CD3 redirected (51)Cr release, represented the combined activity of T cells regardless of their antigen specificity, and proceeded even when CD44(hi) (memory-associated phenotype) CD8(+) T cells were depleted. Cytotoxic capacity was perforin-dependent and occurred without detectable up-regulation of granzyme B or cell division. After induction, the phenotypic markers for the memory subset and for activation remained unchanged from the expression of resting T cells. Our work suggests that T cells may gain cytotoxic potential earlier than currently thought and even without TCR stimulation. |
