Murine in vitro Memory T Cell Differentiation

Abstract

Upon pathogen encounter, naïve CD8+ T cells are primed and undergo massive clonal expansion. A fraction of effector CD8+ T cells remains during the contraction phase and differentiate into memory T cells critical for mounting robust recall responses in response to secondary infection. Low frequency of memory T cells in vivo is a major obstacle to investigate their functional aspects including migration capacity and genetic regulation. Here, we describe detailed protocol for memory T cell differentiation developed by von Andrian’s group to generate large number of CD44hiCD62Lhi antigen-specific memory T cells in vitro.