Connection of the youth
Infants have less developed immune systems than adults but can still respond to a plethora of infections and in some cases better than adults. To better understand how this occurs with respect to T cell immunity, Thapa et al. used a co-adoptive transfer model of infant and adult mouse CD4+ T cells into mice that were subsequently infected with influenza. Infant CD4+ T cells were more able to get to the lungs and divided more than adult cells after infection. This correlated to increased sensitivity of infant CD4+ T cells to TCR activation due to enhanced immune synapse formation and subsequent downstream signaling. Thus, during influenza infection, infant CD4+ T cells are more sensitive to TCR stimuli than adult CD4+ T cells.
Infants have less developed immune systems than adults but can still respond to a plethora of infections and in some cases better than adults. To better understand how this occurs with respect to T cell immunity, Thapa et al. used a co-adoptive transfer model of infant and adult mouse CD4+ T cells into mice that were subsequently infected with influenza. Infant CD4+ T cells were more able to get to the lungs and divided more than adult cells after infection. This correlated to increased sensitivity of infant CD4+ T cells to TCR activation due to enhanced immune synapse formation and subsequent downstream signaling. Thus, during influenza infection, infant CD4+ T cells are more sensitive to TCR stimuli than adult CD4+ T cells.
