| First Author | Blachère NE | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | JCI Insight | Volume | 2 |
| Issue | 21 | PubMed ID | 29093272 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:260034 | Mgi Id | MGI:6150151 |
| Doi | 10.1172/jci.insight.96173 | Citation | Blachere NE, et al. (2017) T cells presenting viral antigens or autoantigens induce cytotoxic T cell anergy. JCI Insight 2(21) |
| abstractText | In the course of modeling the naturally occurring tumor immunity seen in patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD), we discovered an unexpectedly high threshold for breaking CD8+ cytotoxic T cell (CTL) tolerance to the PCD autoantigen, CDR2. While CDR2 expression was previously found to be strictly restricted to immune-privileged cells (cerebellum, testes, and tumors), unexpectedly we have found that T cells also express CDR2. This expression underlies inhibition of CTL activation; CTLs that respond to epithelial cells expressing CDR2 fail to respond to T cells expressing CDR2. This was a general phenomenon, as T cells presenting influenza (flu) antigen also fail to activate otherwise potent flu-specific CTLs either in vitro or in vivo. Moreover, transfer of flu peptide-pulsed T cells into flu-infected mice inhibits endogenous flu-specific CTLs. Our finding that T cells serve as a site of immune privilege, inhibiting effector CTL function, uncovers an autorepressive loop with general biologic and clinical relevance. |
