Doherty P C, Christensen J P
Department of Immunology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, USA.
Annu Rev Immunol. 2000;18:561-92. doi: 10.1146/annurev.immunol.18.1.561.
The cellular dynamics of the immune system are complex and difficult to measure. Access to this problematic area has been greatly enhanced by the recent development of tetrameric complexes of MHC class I glycoprotein + peptide (tetramers) for the direct staining of freshly isolated, antigen-specific CD8(+ )T cells. Analysis to date with both naturally acquired and experimentally induced infections has established that the numbers of virus-specific CD8(+) T cells present during both the acute and memory phases of the host response are more than tenfold in excess of previously suspected values. The levels are such that the virus-specific CD8(+) set is readily detected in the human peripheral blood lymphocyte compartment, particularly during persistent infections. Experimentally, it is now possible to measure the extent of cycling for tetramer (+)CD8(+) T cells during the acute and memory phases of the host response to viruses. Dissection of the phenotypic, functional, and molecular diversity of CD8(+) T cell populations has been greatly facilitated. It is hoped it will also soon be possible to analyze CD4(+) T cell populations in this way. Though these are early days and there is an enormous amount to be done, our perceptions of the shape of virus-specific cell-mediated immunity are changing rapidly.
免疫系统的细胞动力学十分复杂且难以测量。近期开发的主要组织相容性复合体I类糖蛋白+肽的四聚体复合物（四聚体）用于直接染色新鲜分离的抗原特异性CD8(+) T细胞，极大地促进了对这一难题领域的研究。迄今为止，对自然感染和实验性诱导感染的分析表明，在宿主反应的急性期和记忆期，病毒特异性CD8(+) T细胞的数量比之前怀疑的值高出十倍以上。其水平使得病毒特异性CD8(+)细胞群在人类外周血淋巴细胞区室中很容易被检测到，尤其是在持续性感染期间。在实验中，现在已经能够测量宿主对病毒反应的急性期和记忆期四聚体(+)CD8(+) T细胞的循环程度。CD8(+) T细胞群体的表型、功能和分子多样性的剖析也得到了极大的促进。人们希望不久之后也能够以这种方式分析CD4(+) T细胞群体。虽然现在还处于早期阶段，还有大量工作要做，但我们对病毒特异性细胞介导免疫形态的认识正在迅速改变。
