| First Author | Imai T | Year | 2015 |
| Journal | Elife | Volume | 4 |
| PubMed ID | 25760084 | Mgi Jnum | J:220686 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5635941 | Doi | 10.7554/eLife.04232 |
| Citation | Imai T, et al. (2015) Cytotoxic activities of CD8(+) T cells collaborate with macrophages to protect against blood-stage murine malaria. Elife 4 |
| abstractText | The protective immunity afforded by CD8(+) T cells against blood-stage malaria remains controversial because no MHC class I molecules are displayed on parasite-infected human erythrocytes. We recently reported that rodent malaria parasites infect erythroblasts that express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I antigens, which are recognized by CD8(+) T cells. In this study, we demonstrate that the cytotoxic activity of CD8(+) T cells contributes to the protection of mice against blood-stage malaria in a Fas ligand (FasL)-dependent manner. Erythroblasts infected with malarial parasites express the death receptor Fas. CD8(+) T cells induce the externalization of phosphatidylserine (PS) on the infected erythroblasts in a cell-to-cell contact-dependent manner. PS enhances the engulfment of the infected erythroid cells by phagocytes. As a PS receptor, T-cell immunoglobulin-domain and mucin-domain-containing molecule 4 (Tim-4) contributes to the phagocytosis of malaria-parasite-infected cells. Our findings provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying the protective immunity exerted by CD8(+) T cells in collaboration with phagocytes. |
