Abstract
Memory T cells are endowed with multiple functional features that enable them to be more protective than naïve T cells against infectious threats. It is not known if memory cells have a higher synapse propensity, i.e. increased probability to form immature immunological synapses that then provide an entry into different modes of durable interaction with antigen presenting cells. Here we show that only human memory CD8 T cells have remarkably high synapse propensity compared to naïve counterparts. Such a dichotomy between naïve and memory cells is not observed within the human CD4 or murine CD8 T cell population. Increased surface expression of LFA1 contributes to the higher synapse propensity in human memory CD8 T cells. Finally, we show that higher synapse propensity in human memory CD8 T cells allows them to compete out naïve CD8 T cells from getting recruited to the response. This observation has implications for original antigenic sin and aging of the immune system in humans.
- Abbreviations used
- IS
- Immunological Synapse
- IK
- Immunological Kinapse
- CD8+ hTm cells
- human memory CD8 T cells
- SLB
- Supported Lipid Bilayer
- TIRF
- Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence
- IRM
- Interference Reflection Microscopy
- cSMAC
- central Supramolecular Activation Cluster
Footnotes
↵1 Supported by US National Institutes of Health grants PN2 EY016586 (to MLD and LCK) and R37 AI43542 (to MLD), a Cancer Research Institute post-doctoral fellowship (to VM), a UCB postdoctoral fellowship (to EAS), a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship 100262/Z/12/Z (to MLD), grants from the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research (to MLD and KIR Microscopy Facility), a Human Frontiers Science Program research grant (to MLD) and an European Research Council grant AdG 670930-SYNECT (to MLD).