Peripheral self-reactivity regulates antigen-specific CD8 T cell responses and cell division under physiological conditions

It is unknown how naïve CD8 T cells that harbour different and distinct T cell receptors to the same MHC-epitope combination differ in terms of their transcriptional expression profile. In this experiment we compared the expression profile of three naïve transnuclear CD8 T cell clones that differ in their T cell receptor and affinity to cognate peptide and self-reactivity. We find that the transcriptomes of these T cells differ with respect to readiness for cell cycle progression and T cell receptor signaling.