A hallmark of HIV infection is the gradual decline in CD4 T cells leading to AIDS and failure of the immune system. Depletion of CD4 T cells has been attributed to direct viral cytopathogenicity and hyperimmune activation which all lead to accelerated apoptosis. More recently, impaired thymic function has been shown to contribute to the numerical decline of CD4 T cells. The thymus is the primary source of de novo T cells that bear a broadly diverse T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. In adults, the thymus produces every day approximately 50 million new T cells termed recent thymic emigrants (RTEs). Following their exit from the thymus, RTEs join the naive T cell compartment and upon antigen encounter differentiate into effector and memory T cells. / Abstract
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.104565 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Zeidan, Joumana |
| Contributors | Amit Bar-Or (Internal/Cosupervisor2), Rafick-Pierre Sekaly (Internal/Supervisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Microbiology & Immunology) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | Electronically-submitted theses. |
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