Studying CD8+ T cell immune response using in vitro live cell imaging

CD8+ T cells are a powerful branch of the adaptive immune system. They contribute to control of infection and cancer, are involved in autoimmune disease, and mediate transplant rejections. Antigen specific naïve CD8+ T cells recognise their cognate antigen on the surface of dendritic cells (DC) and become activated. Once activated, they undergo a phase of rapid proliferation and differentiation. Memory differentiation is a hallmark of adoptive immunity and provide the host with long lasting protection against the same antigen. Many researchers, mainly using population based analysis, have been trying to elucidate the mechanisms that regulate memory differentiation. However, how the initial response of CD8+ T cells and memory differentiation are regulated is still a challenging subject in immunology. Studying the immune response of T cells at the level of single cells can provide insight into many illusive aspects of the initial response and production memory cells. In this thesis I studied the clonal expansion of naïve CD8+ T cells by quantifying cell number over time.