Revisiting Thymic Positive Selection and the Mature T Cell Repertoire for Antigen

To support effective host defense, the T cell repertoire must balance breadth of recognition with sensitivity for antigen. The concept that T lymphocytes are positively selected in the thymus is well established, but how this selection achieves such a repertoire has not been resolved. Here we suggest that it is direct linkage between self and foreign antigen recognition that produces the necessary blend of TCR diversity and specificity in the mature peripheral repertoire, enabling responses to a broad universe of unpredictable antigens while maintaining an adequate number of highly sensitive T cells in a population of limited size. Our analysis also helps to explain how diversity and frequency of antigen-reactive cells in a T cell repertoire are adjusted in animals of vastly different size scale to enable effective antipathogen responses and suggests a possible binary architecture in the TCR repertoire that is divided between germline-related optimal binding and diverse recognition

Plasticity of Lgr5-Negative Cancer Cells Drives Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer stem cells (CSCs) express Lgr5 and display extensive stem cell-like multipotency and self-renewal and are thought to seed metastatic disease. Here, we used a mouse model of colorectal cancer (CRC) and human tumor xenografts to investigate the cell of origin of metastases. We found that most disseminated CRC cells in circulation were Lgr5- and formed distant metastases in which Lgr5+ CSCs appeared. This p

Quantification of lymph node transit times reveals differences in antigen surveillance strategies of naive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells

Naïve T cells continually recirculate between blood and secondary lymphoid organs, scanning dendritic cells (DC) for foreign antigen. Despite its importance for understanding how adaptive immune responses are efficiently initiated from rare precursors, a detailed quantitative analysis of this fundamental process has not been reported. Here we measure lymph node (LN) entry, transit, and exit rates for naïve CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, then use intravital imaging and mathematical modeling to relate cell–cell interaction dynamics to population behavior. Our studies reveal marked differences between CD4+ vs. CD8+ T cells. CD4+ T cells recirculate more rapidly, homing to LNs more efficiently, traversing LNs twice as quickly, and spending ∼1/3 of their transit time interacting with MHCII on DC. In contrast, adoptively transferred CD8+ T cells enter and leave the LN more slowly, with a transit time unaffected by the absence of MHCI molecules on host cells. Together, these data reveal an unexpectedly asymmetric role for MHC interactions in controlling CD4+ vs. CD8+ T lymphocyte recirculation, as well as distinct contributions of T cell receptor (TCR)-independent factors to the LN transit time, exposing the divergent surveillance strategies used by the two lymphocyte populations in scanning for foreign antigen

Quantification of naive and memory T-cell turnover during HIV-1 infection

BACKGROUND: In HIV infection, the homeostasis of CD4 and CD8 T cells is dramatically disturbed, and several studies have pointed out that T-cell turnover rates are increased. To understand how the CD4 and CD8 T-cell pools are affected, it is important to have quantitative insights into the lifespans of the cells constituting the different T-lymphocyte populations. METHODS: We used long-term in-vivo H2O labeling and mathematical modeling to estimate the average lifespans of naive and memory CD4 and CD8 T cells in untreated (n = 4) and combination antiretroviral therapy-treated (n = 3) HIV-1-infected individuals. RESULTS: During untreated chronic HIV-1 infection, naive CD4 and CD8 T cells lived on average 618 and 271 days, whereas memory CD4 and CD8 T cells had average lifespans of 53 and 43 days, respectively. These lifespans were at least three-fold shorter than those in healthy controls (n = 5). In patients on effective combination antiretroviral therapy with total CD4 T-cell counts in the normal range, we found that naive CD4 and CD8 T-cell lifespans had not completely normalized and were still two-fold shortened. CONCLUSION: The average lifespan of both naive and memory CD4 and CD8 T cells decreased during untreated chronic HIV-1 infection. Although the turnover of the memory T-cell populations nearly normalized during effective treatment, the turnover of naive CD4 and CD8 T cells did not seem to normalize completely