Effect of depletion of p38α and p38β on gene expression in naïve CD8+ T cells

Meanwhile p38α/β deletion doesn’t influence the clearance of LCMV although it impairs the cytolytic activity of CD8+ T cells. Loss of p38α/β significantly enhances IL-2-producing Tcm accumulation in mouse spleen with no impact on total memory CD8+ T cell numbers yet.

And in line with this, more robust proliferation of memory CD8+ T cells in the secondary response and stronger antigen-specific killing ability in rechallenged mice are resulted from p38α/β deficiency. These results establish a pivotal role for p38α/β in skewing MPEC formation toward SLEC differentiation, as well as in suppressing Tcm formation, and thus affecting the recall response. p38α was reported to be essential in CD8+ T cell maturation, and our mice were observed to be at loss of p38α/β expression in thymic T cells during development.