{"doi":"10.1101/2021.08.06.455141","title":"BCL6-dependent TCF-1 <sup>+</sup> progenitor cells maintain effector and helper CD4 T cell responses to persistent antigen","abstract":"Summary Shortly after priming, the fate of activated CD4 T cells is segregated into BCL6 + follicular helper T (Tfh) and BCL6 − effector (Teff) cells. However, it remains unknown how these subsets are sustained in the presence of chronic antigen stimulation. Using a combination of single cell- and population-based approaches, we show that in chronic viral infection, activated CD4 T cells differentiate into BCL6-dependent TCF-1 + progenitor cells with superior capacity to expand and give rise to both Teff and Tfh. They share properties with progenitor-exhausted CD8 T cells and are required for the continued generation of Teff cells as antigen persists. In response to tumors, an analogous CD4 T cell population develops in draining lymph nodes. Our study reveals the heterogeneity and plasticity of CD4 T cells upon encountering persistent antigen and highlights their population dynamics through a stable bipotent intermediate state.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2021,"id":221364,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9502,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":21650,"name":"Katalin Sandor","orcid":"0000-0003-2892-4865","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":673669,"name":"Joy A. Pai","orcid":"0000-0003-3580-8061","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":237496,"name":"Bence Dániel","orcid":"0000-0002-2410-8767","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":564287,"name":"Saravanan Raju","orcid":"0000-0003-3216-5574","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":782545,"name":"Renee Wu","orcid":"0000-0002-9521-1657","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":417820,"name":"Sunnie Hsiung","orcid":"0000-0002-4813-7220","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":551915,"name":"Yanyan Qi","orcid":"0000-0003-0537-1540","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":522011,"name":"Yangdon Tenzin","orcid":"0000-0002-2335-2354","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":821955,"name":"Mariko Okamoto","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":109981,"name":"Robert D. Schreiber","orcid":"0000-0003-1590-2341","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":227901,"name":"Kenneth M. Murphy","orcid":"0000-0002-3505-9630","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":21653,"name":"Ansuman T. Satpathy","orcid":"0000-0002-5167-537X","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":564292,"name":"Takeshi Egawa","orcid":"0000-0001-7489-1051","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":564288,"name":"Yu Xia","orcid":"0000-0002-6397-1205","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":57,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:53:55.215284Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}