Scientists solve 18-year-old mystery and find the once-elusive source of a critical T cell population
Originally published by Delthia Ricks , Medical Xpress, on December 28, 2023 P resence of Tcf7+ CD8+ T cells during the primary response to infection. (A) Experimental schematic: Naïve P14 cells (CD45.2) were transferred into congenically distinct B6 mice (CD45.1) that were subsequently infected with LCMV (Arm or WE strain). On the indicated day of infection, P14 cells present in the spleen (unless indicated otherwise) were characterized using flow cytometry. (B) Live cells were gated using FSC-A and SSC.A, followed by doublet discrimination using FSC-H/FSC-A. Next, singlets were gated for alive cells, CD8+ and congenic markers CD45.1 and CD45.2 were used to gate P14 cells. Credit: Science Immunology (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.adh3113 One of the more rigorous debates in immunology has centered on the origin of an enigmatic T cell population that possesses properties imparting memory and stem cell–like qualities, but facts about their genesis were so elusive that debate h