The aim of this work is to investigate the mechanisms involved in the clearance of viral infection of the influenza virus at the epithelium level by modeling and analyzing the interaction of the influenza virus specific cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTL cells) and the influenza virus infected epithelial cells. Since detailed and definite mechanisms that trigger CTL production and cell death are stil...

Recently we described an unbiased bacterial whole-genome immunoinformatic analysis aimed at selection of potential CTL epitopes located in "hotspots" of predicted MHC-I binders. Applying this approach to the proteome of the facultative intra-cellular pathogen Francisella tularensis resulted in identification of 170 novel CTL epitopes, several of which were shown to elicit highly robust T cell r...

A major role that cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) play in the immune response is the specific destruction of viral-infected cells and tissue from foreign grafts. Class I molecules encoded within the major histocompatibility complex are the target structures for these CTLs. Recently, viral-restricted CTLs have been shown to recognize viral peptides in association with class I molecules, while sev...

We have studied early transmembrane events in mouse alloimmune cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (LC7, H-2b) activation by specific target cells (mouse mastocytoma P815, H-2d) and a mitogenic lectin, Con A, by using stopped-flow fluorometry with three different fluorescent probes. After binding to target cells (P815), cytotoxic T lymphocytes (LC7) first increased their membrane fluidity and, then, calcium...

The kinetics of effector CD8+-T-cell responses to specific Trypanosoma cruzi epitopes was investigated after challenge. Our results suggest that the delayed kinetics differs from that observed in other microbial infections and facilitates the establishment of the disease in naïve mice. In contrast, in vaccinated mice, the swift CD8+-T-cell response helps host survival after challenge.

In the course of a mixed lymphocyte culture, memory cells are produced which can give rise to a large secondary cytotoxic lymphocyte response on reexposure to the sensitizing alloantigen. We have studied the lineage of these memory cells using a clonal assay for precursors of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CLP). Our data provide conclusive evidence that individual CLP, upon stimulation with alloantig...

During the first weeks of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection, cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) select for multiple escape mutations in the infecting HIV population. In recent years, methods that use escape mutation data to estimate rates of HIV escape have been developed, thereby providing a quantitative framework for exploring HIV escape from CTL response. Current methods for escap...