1. Autophagy is essential for effector CD8+ T cell survival and memory formation.
- Author
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Xu, Xiaojin, Araki, Koichi, Li, Shuzhao, Han, Jin-Hwan, Ye, Lilin, Tan, Wendy G, Konieczny, Bogumila T, Bruinsma, Monique W, Martinez, Jennifer, Pearce, Erika L, Green, Douglas R, Jones, Dean P, Virgin, Herbert W, and Ahmed, Rafi
- Subjects
AUTOPHAGY ,T cells ,IMMUNOLOGIC memory ,ANIMAL models for virus diseases ,LABORATORY mice ,LYMPHOCYTIC choriomeningitis virus ,CELL proliferation - Abstract
The importance of autophagy in the generation of memory CD8
+ T cells in vivo is not well defined. We report here that autophagy was dynamically regulated in virus-specific CD8+ T cells during acute infection of mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. In contrast to the current paradigm, autophagy decreased in activated proliferating effector CD8+ T cells and was then upregulated when the cells stopped dividing just before the contraction phase. Consistent with those findings, deletion of the gene encoding either of the autophagy-related molecules Atg5 or Atg7 had little to no effect on the proliferation and function of effector cells, but these autophagy-deficient effector cells had survival defects that resulted in compromised formation of memory T cells. Our studies define when autophagy is needed during effector and memory differentiation and warrant reexamination of the relationship between T cell activation and autophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2014
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