Abstract The use of intradermal BCG offers limited protection against tuberculosis. Intravenous (IV) administration has shown to produce robust infection in a non-human primate model However, the duration exposure and time required elicit an efficacious, protective response is unknown safety IV live remains concern. Here we investigated whether self-limiting strain (killswitchBCG; ksBCG) could ...

Granzyme K (gzmK) expressing CD8+ T-cells have recently been described as a novel effector T-cell population found in variety of inflamed tissues including rheumatoid arthritis synovium, lupus nephritis, and inflammatory bowel disease colon. GzmK also identified major cutaneous lupus, psoriatic skin synovium. However, the overall function gzmK has relatively undefined. Prior studies shown gzmK+...

The importance of CTL induced apoptosis as a vital part of the protection of host organisms from pathogenic viruses cannot be overstated. Conversely, the ability of a virus to evade CTL induced apoptosis is equally important to its survival. Important insights in viral pathogenesis and host immunology have been discovered through observations of this constantly evolving interchange. This mini r...

Infection with Listeria monocytogenes elicits expansion in numbers of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells, which then undergo programmed contraction. The remaining cells undergo further phenotypic and functional changes with time, eventually attaining the qualities of memory CD8+ T cells. In this study, we show that L. monocytogenes-specific CD8+ T cell populations primed in antibiotic-pretreated mice und...

Ag-specific, CD8+ CTLs clear influenza A viruses from the lung via granzyme (Gzm) and perforin-dependent mechanisms. Ex vivo analysis of perforin-Gzm mRNA profiles demonstrated substantial heterogeneity in patterns of effector mRNA transcription of CD8+ D(b)NP(366)- or D(b)PA(224)-specific CTL. The only difference between the two epitope-specific sets was apparent very early after infection wit...

The caspases are a unique family of cysteine proteases, which cleave proteins next to an aspartate residue. Among all known mammalian proteases, only the serine protease granzyme B has similar substrate specificity. In addition to a central role of caspases in the initiation and execution phases of apoptosis, these enzymes have some other non-apoptotic functions in living cells. During apoptosi...