{"id":68605,"date":"2026-06-27T07:45:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T05:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/mapk-activated-protein-kinase-2-orchestrates-memory-t-cell-inflation-in-cytomegalovirus-infection\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T07:45:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T05:45:49","slug":"mapk-activated-protein-kinase-2-orchestrates-memory-t-cell-inflation-in-cytomegalovirus-infection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/mapk-activated-protein-kinase-2-orchestrates-memory-t-cell-inflation-in-cytomegalovirus-infection\/","title":{"rendered":"MAPK-activated protein kinase 2 orchestrates memory T-cell inflation in cytomegalovirus infection"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>J Immunol<\/b>. 2026 Jun 7;215(6):vkag170. doi: 10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag170.<\/p>\n<p><b>ABSTRACT<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Memory T-cell inflation is a distinctive immunological phenomenon observed during persistent viral infections such as cytomegalovirus (CMV). Unlike conventional memory T-cell responses, which contract after infection resolution, a subset of CMV-specific T cells undergoes a progressive and sustained expansion, termed &#8220;inflation&#8221;, which is thought to be critical for long-term immune surveillance. The molecular mechanisms that govern memory T-cell inflation remain incompletely understood, yet they are pivotal for understanding immune persistence and designing strategies against chronic viral infections. In this study, we investigated the role of MAPK-activated protein kinase 2 (MK2), a key downstream effector of p38 MAPK signaling, in regulating T-cell responses during murine CMV (MCMV) infection. Using MK2 knockout (MK2-KO) mice, we demonstrate that MK2 deficiency alters the dynamics of MCMV-specific CD8+ T-cell responses without impairing viral control or tissue replication. MK2 deficiency led to a reduction in noninflationary MCMV-specific CD8+ T cells during acute infection, followed by enhanced expansion of inflationary CD8+ T-cell subsets during latent infection. Furthermore, MK2-KO mice exhibited impaired effector differentiation, as evidenced by decreased expression of the terminal differentiation marker KLRG1 on MCMV-specific CD8+ T cells. Collectively, these findings identify MK2 as an important regulator of CD8+ T-cell magnitude, kinetics, and phenotype during both acute and latent MCMV infection. By demonstrating a role of MK2 in the regulation of memory T-cell inflation, this study provides new mechanistic insight into immune regulation with implications for vaccination, chronic infection, and immune aging.<\/p>\n<p>PMID:<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/42361267\/?utm_source=SimplePie&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=2985117R&amp;ff=20260627014548&amp;v=2.20.0\">42361267<\/a> | DOI:<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag170\">10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag170<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>J Immunol. 2026 Jun 7;215(6):vkag170. doi: 10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag170. ABSTRACT Memory T-cell inflation is a distinctive immunological phenomenon observed during persistent viral infections such as cytomegalovirus (CMV). Unlike conventional memory T-cell responses, which contract after infection resolution, a subset of CMV-specific T cells undergoes a progressive and sustained expansion, termed &#8220;inflation&#8221;, which is thought to be critical &#8230; <a title=\"MAPK-activated protein kinase 2 orchestrates memory T-cell inflation in cytomegalovirus infection\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/mapk-activated-protein-kinase-2-orchestrates-memory-t-cell-inflation-in-cytomegalovirus-infection\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about MAPK-activated protein kinase 2 orchestrates memory T-cell inflation in cytomegalovirus infection\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publicaciones","category-the-journal-of-immunology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}