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Infection and Immunity, August 2002, p. 4628-4637, Vol. 70, No. 8
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.8.4628-4637.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Old Mice Express a Transient Early Resistance to Pulmonary Tuberculosis That Is Mediated by CD8 T Cells

Joanne Turner,* Anthony A. Frank, and Ian M. Orme

Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523

Received 5 November 2001/ Returned for modification 7 January 2002/ Accepted 25 April 2002

During the natural aging process the immune system undergoes many alterations. In particular, both the CD4 and CD8 T-cell compartments become compromised, and these changes have serious implications for the capacity of the elderly to control infection. As a result, the elderly are more susceptible to many infectious diseases, including primary infection and reactivation of latent infections. In this study we addressed the capacity of old mice to control an infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and to characterize the mechanism by which old mice, paradoxically, can express a transient early resistance to infection. This resistance was shown to be associated with the presence of CD8 T cells within the lungs that were capable of secreting gamma interferon, as illustrated by the demonstration that early resistance was lost in aged CD8 gene-disrupted mice. These studies therefore show that, despite a documented decline in general CD8 T-cell responsiveness in the elderly, a subset of CD8 T cells is an important early mediator of protection in the lungs of old mice that have been infected with M. tuberculosis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. Phone: (970) 491-6127. Fax: (970) 491-1815. E-mail: Joanne.Turner{at}colostate.edu.

Editor: S. H. E. Kaufmann

Infection and Immunity, August 2002, p. 4628-4637, Vol. 70, No. 8
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.8.4628-4637.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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  • Vesosky, B., Flaherty, D. K., Turner, J. (2006). Th1 Cytokines Facilitate CD8-T-Cell-Mediated Early Resistance to Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Old Mice.. Infect. Immun. 74: 3314-3324 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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