期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2002
卷号:99
期号:5
页码:2983-2988
DOI:10.1073/pnas.052714199
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Naive T cells do not proliferate in normal individuals in the absence of antigen stimulation, but they proliferate spontaneously when T cells are severely depleted. We show here that coculture of syngeneic dendritic cells (DC) with naive T cells expressing a single T cell receptor also results in T cell proliferation in the absence of foreign antigen. As in lymphopenic mice, where T cell proliferation depends upon DC, this response in the coculture system requires interaction of the T cells' T cell receptor with self-peptide-MHCs on DC. This in vitro proliferation also requires soluble factors, including IL-15 secreted by DC, and can be inhibited potently by cell-cell contact with CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells. The coculture system described may illuminate mechanisms that maintain stable numbers of T cells in normal individuals.