Publication Date:
2009-05-30
Description:
Chronic viral infection is often associated with the dysfunction of virus-specific T cells. Our studies using Il21r-deficient (Il21r-/-) mice now suggest that interleukin-21 (IL-21) is critical for the long-term maintenance and functionality of CD8+ T cells and the control of chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection in mice. Cell-autonomous IL-21 receptor (IL-21R)-dependent signaling by CD8+ T cells was required for sustained cell proliferation and cytokine production during chronic infection. Il21r-/- mice showed normal CD8+ T cell expansion, effector function, memory homeostasis, and recall responses during acute and after resolved infection with several other nonpersistent viruses. These data suggest that IL-21R signaling is required for the maintenance of polyfunctional T cells during chronic viral infections and have implications for understanding the immune response to other persisting antigens, such as tumors.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Frohlich, Anja -- Kisielow, Jan -- Schmitz, Iwana -- Freigang, Stefan -- Shamshiev, Abdijapar T -- Weber, Jacqueline -- Marsland, Benjamin J -- Oxenius, Annette -- Kopf, Manfred -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2009 Jun 19;324(5934):1576-80. doi: 10.1126/science.1172815. Epub 2009 May 28.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19478140" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/*immunology
;
Chronic Disease
;
Humans
;
Immunologic Memory
;
Interferon-gamma/biosynthesis
;
Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis/*immunology
;
Mice
;
Mice, Inbred C57BL
;
Peptide Fragments/biosynthesis
;
Receptors, Interleukin-21/*immunology
;
Signal Transduction
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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