Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Oh S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC524066 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Oh SangKon S Perera Liyanage P LP Burke Donald S DS Waldmann Thomas A TA Berzofsky Jay A JA
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20041011 42
T cell avidity is critical to viral clearance, but mechanisms of CD8(+) T cell avidity maturation are poorly understood. Here, we find that IL-15 mediates two mechanisms of avidity maturation. (i) By selection at the population level, IL-15 promotes greater survival of high- compared with low-avidity cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). High-avidity CTLs express higher levels of IL-15Ralpha and persist longer by homeostatic proliferation. (ii) At the individual cell level, IL-15 induces higher levels ...[more]