Co-stimulation
Signal to activate immune cells
Co-stimulation is a secondary signal which immune cells rely on to activate an immune response in the presence of an antigen-presenting cell. In the case of T cells, two stimuli are required to fully activate their immune response. During the activation of lymphocytes, co-stimulation is often crucial to the development of an effective immune response. Co-stimulation is required in addition to the antigen-specific signal from their antigen receptors.
T cell co-stimulation
T cells require two signals to become fully activated. A first signal, which is antigen-specific, is provided through the T cell receptor (TCR) which interacts with peptide-MHC molecules on the membrane of an antigen presenting cell (APC). A second signal, the co-stimulatory signal, is antigen nonspecific and is provided by the interaction between co-stimulatory molecules expressed on the membrane of the APC and the T cell. This interaction promotes and enhances the TCR signaling, but can also be bi-directional. The co-stimulatory signal is necessary for T cell proliferation, differentiation and survival. Activation of T cells without co-stimulation may lead to the unresponsiveness of the T cell (also called anergy), apoptosis or the acquisition of the immune tolerance.
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This entry incorporates text from “Co-stimulation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.