| First Author | Schluns KS | Year | 2000 |
| Journal | Nat Immunol | Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 426-32 |
| PubMed ID | 11062503 | Mgi Jnum | J:108680 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3624502 | Doi | 10.1038/80868 |
| Citation | Schluns KS, et al. (2000) Interleukin-7 mediates the homeostasis of naive and memory CD8 T cells in vivo. Nat Immunol 1(5):426-32 |
| abstractText | The naive and memory T lymphocyte pools are maintained through poorly understood homeostatic mechanisms that may include signaling via cytokine receptors. We show that interleukin-7 (IL-7) plays multiple roles in regulating homeostasis of CD8+ T cells. We found that IL-7 was required for homeostatic expansion of naive CD8+ and CD4+ T cells in lymphopenic hosts and for CD8+ T cell survival in normal hosts. In contrast, IL-7 was not necessary for growth of CD8+ T cells in response to a virus infection but was critical for generating T cell memory. Up-regulation of Bcl-2 in the absence of IL-7 signaling was impaired after activation in vivo. Homeostatic proliferation of memory cells was also partially dependent on IL-7. These results point to IL-7 as a pivotal cytokine in T cell homeostasis. |
