First Author | Min B | Year | 2004 |
Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 101 |
Issue | 11 | Pages | 3874-9 |
PubMed ID | 15001705 | Mgi Jnum | J:133072 |
Mgi Id | MGI:3777698 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.0400606101 |
Citation | Min B, et al. (2004) Spontaneous proliferation, a response of naive CD4 T cells determined by the diversity of the memory cell repertoire. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101(11):3874-9 |
abstractText | T cell numbers are maintained within narrow ranges in vivo. Introduction of naive cells into lymphopenic environments results in proliferation and differentiation driven by the recognition of peptide/MHC complexes and by cytokine signaling. This process, often described as homeostatic proliferation, is here referred to as spontaneous proliferation. We show that, although the presence of memory CD4 T cells of broad repertoire efficiently inhibits proliferation/differentiation of naive CD4 T cells, a memory population of similar size comprised of cells with a repertoire of limited diversity fails to do so, implying that cells of a given specificity prevent responses of cells of the same or related specificity. This finding suggests that the immune system has evolved mechanisms to attain a memory cell repertoire of great diversity independently of foreign antigens. |