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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Murine Superficial Lymph Node Surgery
Published on: May 21, 2012
A critical role for NF-kappaB transcription factors in the development of CD8+ memory-phenotype T cells
Thore Hettmann1, Joseph T Opferman, Jeffrey M Leiden
1The Laboratory of Cardiovascular Biology, Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Memory T cells are essential for generating secondary immune responses and so provide long-lived protection from pathogens. The mechanisms that regulate the differentiation and survival of memory T cells are largely unknown. Transgenic mice in which NF-kappaB activity is inhibited by the expression of a dominant-negative form of IkappaB-alpha (mIkappaB-alpha mice) have drastically diminished numbers of CD8(+) memory-phenotype cells. The development of activated mIkappaB-alpha CD8 cells into memory-phenotype CD8 cells was severely impaired after adoptive transfer to lymphopenic hosts. Our findings demonstrate a critical role for NF-kappaB transcription factors in determining the number of memory-phenotype CD8 cells.
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