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Mucosa-Associated Invariant T Cell Roles And Local Responses In Cell-Mediated Immunity To Influenza A Virus, Christine Marie Wardell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mucosa-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are innate-like T cells that are activated by microbial vitamin B metabolites and/or cytokine stimulation to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines and cytotoxic granules. Influenza A viruses (IAVs) activate MAIT cells in a by-stander manner, and their abundance negatively correlates with infection-induced morbidity and mortality. However, how MAIT cells directly contribute to anti-viral immunity is ill-defined. I hypothesized that MAIT cells’ presence in mice enhances antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell responses. I observed a trend that MAIT cell-deficient mice generally developed smaller populations of antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells following IAV exposure than mice abundant in MAIT …