{"id":76208,"date":"2026-09-11T06:20:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T04:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/09\/11\/virus-specific-memory-cd4-t-cells-sustain-long-term-numerical-and-functional-impairment-following-whole-body-irradiation\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T06:20:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T04:20:59","slug":"virus-specific-memory-cd4-t-cells-sustain-long-term-numerical-and-functional-impairment-following-whole-body-irradiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/09\/11\/virus-specific-memory-cd4-t-cells-sustain-long-term-numerical-and-functional-impairment-following-whole-body-irradiation\/","title":{"rendered":"Virus-specific memory CD4 T cells sustain long-term numerical and functional impairment following whole-body irradiation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>J Immunol<\/b>. 2026 Aug 29;215(9):vkag244. doi: 10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag244.<\/p>\n<p><b>ABSTRACT<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The increasing demand for nuclear power and radiotherapy has expanded potential avenues for human exposure to whole-body irradiation (WBI), underscoring the need to understand its impact on immune cells. While prior studies have explored radiation-induced disruptions in immune homeostasis, the direct effect of WBI on pre-existing memory CD4 T cells remains elusive. Using T cell receptor transgenic CD4 T cell chimeric mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus-Armstrong, we demonstrate that a sublethal WBI dose (5 Gy) causes a significant and persistent reduction in the numbers of memory CD4 T cells for at least 30 d post-WBI. At 8 d post-WBI, memory CD4 T cells exhibited an increased frequency of Ly6C+ T helper 1 cells and a decreased frequency of PSGL1+Ly6C- central memory cells in the spleen compared with mock-irradiated (0 Gy) control mice. These subset imbalances were no longer detectable by 30 d post-WBI. However, surviving memory CD4 T cells exhibited intrinsic functional impairments, including reduced production of the proinflammatory cytokines IFN\u03b3, TNF\u03b1, and IL-2 upon ex vivo stimulation with the gp61-80 peptide. Furthermore, irradiated T cell receptor transgenic memory CD4 T cells exhibited defective secondary expansion upon pathogen re-encounter in unmanipulated hosts. Finally, the irradiated primary memory CD4 T cells exhibited poor protection potential, as they were unable to clear the pathogen upon re-exposure as effectively as their 0 Gy counterpart. In summary, sublethal WBI impairs the kinetics, subset composition, and function of memory CD4 T cells, ultimately compromising their ability to mount effective recall responses to clear the infection.<\/p>\n<p>PMID:<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/42722349\/?utm_source=SimplePie&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=2985117R&amp;ff=20260911002059&amp;v=2.20.1\">42722349<\/a> | DOI:<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag244\">10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag244<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>J Immunol. 2026 Aug 29;215(9):vkag244. doi: 10.1093\/jimmun\/vkag244. ABSTRACT The increasing demand for nuclear power and radiotherapy has expanded potential avenues for human exposure to whole-body irradiation (WBI), underscoring the need to understand its impact on immune cells. While prior studies have explored radiation-induced disruptions in immune homeostasis, the direct effect of WBI on pre-existing memory &#8230; <a title=\"Virus-specific memory CD4 T cells sustain long-term numerical and functional impairment following whole-body irradiation\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/09\/11\/virus-specific-memory-cd4-t-cells-sustain-long-term-numerical-and-functional-impairment-following-whole-body-irradiation\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Virus-specific memory CD4 T cells sustain long-term numerical and functional impairment following whole-body irradiation\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76208","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\/76208","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=76208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}