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Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Retroviral Scanning: Mapping MLV Integration Sites to Define Cell-specific Regulatory Regions
Published on: May 28, 2017
Adaptive immunity to retroelements promotes barrier integrity
Alexandria C Wells1, Djalma Souza Lima-Junior1, Verena M Link1
1Metaorganism Immunity Section, Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Abstract:
Maintenance of tissue integrity is a requirement of host survival. This mandate is of prime importance at barrier sites that are constitutively exposed to the environment. Here, we show that exposure of the skin to non-inflammatory xenobiotics promotes tissue repair; more specifically, mild detergent exposure promotes the reactivation of defined retroelements leading to the induction of retroelement-specific CD8+ T cells. These T cell responses are Langerhans cell dependent and establish tissue residency within the skin. Upon injury, retroelement-specific CD8+ T cells significantly accelerate wound repair via IL-17A. Collectively, this work demonstrates that tonic environmental exposures and associated adaptive responses to retroelements can be coopted to preemptively set the tissue for maximal resilience to injury.
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