Physiology and Microbiology & Immunology Seminar: Dr. Troy Baldwin: Controlling the killers: Mechanisms of CD8 T cell tolerance

T cells play a central role in both eliminating pathogens and cancers, but are also drivers of autoimmunity. During T cell development in the thymus, a variety of mechanisms operate collectively to regulate T cell tolerance. For CD8+ T cells, the most well-studied central tolerance mechanism is clonal deletion, however, other mechanisms such as functional inactivation have been described. Our studies have shown that while robust clonal deletion can purge the T cell repertoire of most of the highly self-reactive CD8+ T cells, anergy induction in the remaining highly self-reactive cells is needed for self-tolerance. Furthermore, signaling through the co-inhibitory receptor PD-1 is needed for establishment and maintenance of tolerance. Collectively, our data shed light on the contributions of different central tolerance mechanisms and highlight the importance of thymic anergy in self-tolerance.

This seminar will take place in person, details in attached poster below