CD8(+) T Cells in Leishmania Infections: Friends or Foes?

Stäger, Simona; Rafati, Sima

CD8 + T cells may not be merely participating in the primary immune response by secreting IFN-γ and possibly killing infected target cells and/or Tregs, but they could also be involved in the recruitment of inflammatory cells and in the maintenance of granulomas. Indeed, a study using L. infantum demonstrated that CD8 + T cells expressed RANTES and MIP-1α (Tsagozis et al., 2003) , two chemokines that are involved in the recruitment of T cells at the inflammatory site and in the formation and maintenance of granulomas (Mackay, 2001) . The authors proposed that CD8 + T cells may thus be involved in granuloma formation. This hypothesis is in agreement with the depletion data (Stern et al., 1988) , showing that depletion of CD8 + T cells results in impaired granuloma formation and ultimately in disease exacerbation.