| First Author | Messingham KA | Year | 2003 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 171 |
| Issue | 8 | Pages | 4254-62 |
| PubMed ID | 14530349 | Mgi Jnum | J:120042 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3703721 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.171.8.4254 |
| Citation | Messingham KA, et al. (2003) Deficient anti-listerial immunity in the absence of perforin can be restored by increasing memory CD8+ T cell numbers. J Immunol 171(8):4254-62 |
| abstractText | Compared with wild-type (WT) mice, Listeria monocytogenes (LM)-vaccinated perforin-deficient (PKO) mice have elevated levels of CD8(+) T cell memory, but exhibit reduced levels of protection against virulent LM. In this study, Ag-specific CD8(+) T cells from LM-vaccinated WT and PKO mice were used in adoptive transfer assays to determine the contribution of perforin-dependent cytolysis in protective immunity to LM. Perforin deficiency resulted in an approximately 5-fold reduction in the per-cell protective capacity of Ag-specific memory CD8(+) T cells that was not caused by differences in memory cell quality as measured by CD62L/CD27 expression, TCR repertoire use, functional avidity, differences in expansion of Ag-specific cells upon infection, or maintenance of memory levels over time. However, perforin-deficient CD8(+) T cells exhibited reduced in vivo cytotoxic function compared to WT CD8(+) T cells. Consistent with the existence of perforin-independent effector pathways, double-vaccinated PKO mice were as resistant to challenge with LM as single-vaccinated WT mice. Thus, increasing the number of memory CD8(+) T cells can overcome diminished per-cell protective immunity in the absence of perforin. |
