Whether inflation of CD8+ memory T (mT) cells, which is often derived from repeated prime-boost vaccinations or chronic viral infections in the elderly, would affect late CD8+ T-cell immunity is a long-standing paradox. We have previously established an animal model with mT-cell inflation by transferring ConA-stimulated monoclonal CD8+ T cells derived from Ova-specific T-cell-receptor transgeni...

Adenoviral (AdV) vectors represent most commonly utilized viral vaccines in clinical studies. While the role of CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses in mediating AdV-induced protection is well understood, the involvement of CD4(+) T cell-provided signals in the development of functional CD8(+) CTL responses remain unclear. To explore CD4(+) T helper signals required for AdVova-stimulat...

Lymphopenic conditions lead to expansion of memory-like T cells (TML), which develop from naïve T cells by spontaneous proliferation. TML cells are often increased in the elderly population, AIDS patients, and patients recovering from radio- or chemotherapy. At present, it is unclear whether TML cells can efficiently respond to foreign antigen and participate in antiviral immunity. To address t...

Latently infected resting CD4(+) T cells are a major barrier to HIV cure. Understanding how latency is established, maintained and reversed is critical to identifying novel strategies to eliminate latently infected cells. We demonstrate here that co-culture of resting CD4(+) T cells and syngeneic myeloid dendritic cells (mDC) can dramatically increase the frequency of HIV DNA integration and la...

BACKGROUND Longitudinal characterization of immune recovery in the first-phase of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is poorly described. We compared immune kinetics in individuals who were diagnosed early or late with HIV-1 infection, (thus commencing ART with different CD4+ T-cell counts), in order to investigate possible mechanisms involved in subsequent poor immune recovery. METHODS Immunopheno...

T cells differentiate into functionally distinct effector subsets in response to pathogen encounter. Cells of the innate immune system direct this process; CD1d-restricted invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, for example, can either promote or inhibit Th(1) and Th(2) responses. Recently, a new subset of CD4(+) T helper cells, called Th(17), was identified that is implicated in mucosal immun...

Abstract Tissue-resident memory CD4 T cells (TRM) protect against pathogens through the early shaping of inflammation at sites infection. The extent to which their activation can impact subsequent systemic cell responses is not clear. To ask if lung TRM recognizing antigen same presented in secondary lymphoid organs, we generated OVA-specific primed by infection with an influenza virus expressi...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS As the first point of contact with enteric antigens, intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) may be key in regulating mucosal immune responses. We determined therefore if murine colonic epithelial cells (CEC) have tolerogenic or activating effects on CD4 T cells. METHODS Using a novel CEC, macrophages, and CD4 T cell coculture system, mitogen and antigen specific responses of na...