| First Author | Tan JT | Year | 2001 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 98 |
| Issue | 15 | Pages | 8732-7 |
| PubMed ID | 11447288 | Mgi Jnum | J:93058 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3055656 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.161126098 |
| Citation | Tan JT, et al. (2001) IL-7 is critical for homeostatic proliferation and survival of naive T cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98(15):8732-7 |
| abstractText | In T cell-deficient conditions, naive T cells undergo spontaneous 'homeostatic' proliferation in response to contact with self-MHC/peptide ligands. With the aid of an in vitro system, we show here that homeostatic proliferation is also cytokine-dependent. The cytokines IL-4, IL-7, and IL-15 enhanced homeostatic proliferation of naive T cells in vitro. Of these cytokines, only IL-7 was found to be critical; thus, naive T cells underwent homeostatic proliferation in IL-4(-) and IL-15(-) hosts but proliferated minimally in IL-7(-) hosts. In addition to homeostatic proliferation, the prolonged survival of naive T cells requires IL-7. Thus, naive T cells disappeared gradually over a 1-month period upon adoptive transfer into IL-7(-) hosts. These findings indicate that naive T cells depend on IL-7 for survival and homeostatic proliferation. |
