| First Author | Oberle SG | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | Cell Rep | Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 627-635 |
| PubMed ID | 27732840 | Mgi Jnum | J:240773 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5892198 | Doi | 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.072 |
| Citation | Oberle SG, et al. (2016) A Minimum Epitope Overlap between Infections Strongly Narrows the Emerging T Cell Repertoire. Cell Rep 17(3):627-635 |
| abstractText | Many infections are caused by pathogens that are similar, but not identical, to previously encountered viruses, bacteria, or vaccines. In such re-infections, pathogens introduce known antigens, which are recognized by memory T cells and new antigens that activate naive T cells. How preexisting memory T cells impact the repertoire of T cells responding to new antigens is still largely unknown. We demonstrate that even a minimum epitope overlap between infections strongly increases the activation threshold and narrows the diversity of T cells recruited in response to new antigens. Thus, minimal cross-reactivity between infections can significantly impact the outcome of a subsequent immune response. Interestingly, we found that non-transferrable memory T cells are most effective in raising the activation threshold. Our findings have implications for designing vaccines and suggest that vaccines meant to target low-affinity T cells are less effective when they contain a strong CD8 T cell epitope that has previously been encountered. |
