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The α x β 2 integrin CD11c is a potent costimulator of CD8 T cell responses
Author(s) -
Bose Tina,
Gumpenberger Kristina,
Huleatt James,
Ballantyne Christie,
Lefrancois Leo
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.855.10
Subject(s) - cd11c , cd8 , t cell , cytotoxic t cell , integrin , biology , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , chemistry , immune system , in vitro , phenotype , biochemistry , gene
Integrins are important adhesion molecules necessary for leukocyte migration, homing and cell to cell interactions. We previously showed that CD11c, the α chain of the α X β 2 integrin, is upregulated after CD8 T cell activation in vivo . However, the functional significance of CD8 T cell expression of CD11c is unknown. Here, we examined the role of CD11c during the CD8 T cell response to infection using CD11c‐deficient mice. The response was appreciably dampened in CD11c−/− mice. In order to isolate the defect to CD8 T cells, we adoptively transferred a 1:1 ratio of T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic ovalbumin‐specific wild type (WT) OT‐I and CD11c−/− OT‐I T cells into WT B6 mice and infected the recipients. Using congenic markers, we then compared the ratios of CD11c−/− versus WT OT‐I cells during the response. Initially, CD11c −/− OT‐I T cells proliferated to the same extent as WT OT‐I T cells. In stark contrast, one day later (day 5 post infection), the WT OT‐I cells greatly outnumbered the CD11c−/− OT‐I cells and this difference was maintained throughout the memory phase. Thus, these results indicated a critical role for CD11c mediated costimulation in CD8 T cell activation leading to survival. This work is supported by the NIH Grants R01‐AI41576 and P01‐AI56172.