Population doublings of murine CD4(+) memory T cells during continuous antigen stimulation in vivo

作者：Kushida Yoshihiro; Ishida Jun ya; Fujii Masato; Touma Maki^*; Hosono Masamichi

来源：Cellular Immunology, 2014, 292(1-2): 45-52.

DOI：10.1016/j.cellimm.2014.09.001

• Population doublings
• Memory CD4(+) T cells
• In vivo culture
• Serial transfer
• Autoimmune gastritis

We investigated the expansion rate of CD4(+) memory T cells using a newly developed in vivo system. Neonatal thymectomy abrogates the subsequent production of T cells and induces autoimmune gastritis (AIG) by the activation of CD4(+) T cells; this disease was transferred into athymic nude mice through the inoculation of splenic CD4(+) memory T cells. The transferred CD4(+) T cells increased logarithmically in number during the first 2 months in the spleen of the recipients. The serial transfer of these splenocytes at two-month intervals revealed that the numbers of the AIG-transferable generations were inversely correlated with the age of the first AIG donors. The duration of the AIG-promoting capacity of CD4(+) T cells under continuous antigenic stimulation in vivo was approximately equivalent-one and a half years. These results indicate that there exists an intrinsic population doubling limit in memory CD4(+) T cells similar to that of self-renewing naive ones.

• 出版日期2014-12