https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7489-1051
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Takeshi Egawa, A Fateful Decision in the Thymus Controlled by the Transcription Factor ThPOK, The Journal of Immunology, Volume 206, Issue 9, May 2021, Pages 1981–1982, https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.2100157
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T cells that express heterodimerized α-β TCR play central roles in host defense against infections and cancers (1–4). Conventional αβT cells are divided into CD4 helper and CD8 cytotoxic T cells. CD4 T cells possess plasticity to differentiate into distinct populations of cytokine producers that subsequently modulate immune responses by diverse cell types, including macrophages, mast cells, neutrophils, and epithelial cells. This functional polarization of CD4 effector T cells is driven by the cytokine milieu established by innate immune cells that sense invasion by microbes and thus amplifies coordinated immune responses involving multiple cell types for efficient control of pathogens. A distinct subset of CD4 T cells generated from the same naive pool provides help to license professional Ag-presenting cells for efficient priming of CD8 T cells, while also supporting survival and clonal expansion of B cells for Ab affinity maturation in the germinal center. By contrast, CD8 T cells predominantly function as cytotoxic cells through their capacity for enormous clonal expansion, production of cytotoxic effector molecules, and expression of type-I cytokines, such as IFN-γ and TNF.
