On 28th November OxTalks will move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events' (full details are available on the Staff Gateway).
There will be an OxTalks freeze beginning on Friday 14th November. This means you will need to publish any of your known events to OxTalks by then as there will be no facility to publish or edit events in that fortnight. During the freeze, all events will be migrated to the new Oxford Events site. It will still be possible to view events on OxTalks during this time.
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Mucosal Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells are an abundant population of tissue homing T-cells, possessing TCRs capable of recognising bacterially-derived riboflavin synthesis intermediates. However, their ability to respond to viral pathogens has not been defined. We addressed whether human MAIT cell populations responded to viral infections in vivo and the mechanism behind this. We find consistent evidence for MAIT cell activation during infection with Dengue virus, Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and Influenza Virus. This activation – driving cytokine release and upregulation of Granzyme B – was TCR-independent but dependent on specific cytokines, notably IL-18 in synergy with IL-12, IL-15 and/or type I interferons. IL-18 levels and activation of MAIT cells correlated with disease severity in acute Dengue infection. Furthermore, treatment of HCV with interferon-α led to specific activation of MAIT cells in vivo. Together these data demonstrate MAIT cells as virally-responsive and suggest a role in both host defence and immunopathology.
