Optimization of TCR transgenic T cells for in vivo tracking of immune responses

Angus T Stock1, Scott N Mueller, Lauren M Kleinert

  • 1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.

T-cell receptor (TCR) transgenic mice have proven useful for the study of various immune parameters. Despite this, it has been suggested that transferred T cells respond differently to their endogenous counterparts at least in terms of conversion to antigen-experienced populations bearing memory cell markers. Here, we have compared the response of TCR transgenic T cells to endogenous populations within the context of infection with herpes simplex virus. We found that adoptive transfer at numbers approaching those of the endogenous virus-specific subset results in a response with similar kinetics, magnitude and memory subset conversion. This suggests that this form of optimized T-cell transfer remains a useful means of tracking antiviral immune responses.

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