Open AccessDevelopmental plasticity allows outside-in immune responses by resident memory T cells
Author(s) -
Raíssa Fonseca,
Lalit K. Beura,
Clare F. Quarnstrom,
Hazem E. Ghoneim,
Yiping Fan,
Caitlin C. Zebley,
Milcah C. Scott,
Nancy J Fares-Frederickson,
Sathi Wijeyesinghe,
Emily A. Thompson,
Henrique Borges da Silva,
Vaiva Vezys,
Benjamin A. Youngblood,
David Masopust
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nature immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 9.074
H-Index - 388
eISSN - 1529-2916
pISSN - 1529-2908
DOI - 10.1038/s41590-020-0607-7
Subject(s) - homing (biology) , effector , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , cytotoxic t cell , immune system , immunology , epigenetics , genetics , in vitro , gene , ecology
Central memory T (T CM ) cells patrol lymph nodes and perform conventional memory responses on restimulation: proliferation, migration and differentiation into diverse T cell subsets while also self-renewing. Resident memory T (T RM ) cells are parked within single organs, share properties with terminal effectors and contribute to rapid host protection. We observed that reactivated T RM cells rejoined the circulating pool. Epigenetic analyses revealed that T RM cells align closely with conventional memory T cell populations, bearing little resemblance to recently activated effectors. Fully differentiated T RM cells isolated from small intestine epithelium exhibited the potential to differentiate into T CM cells, effector memory T cells and T RM cells on recall. Ex-T RM cells, former intestinal T RM cells that rejoined the circulating pool, heritably maintained a predilection for homing back to their tissue of origin on subsequent reactivation and a heightened capacity to redifferentiate into T RM cells. Thus, T RM cells can rejoin the circulation but are advantaged to re-form local T RM when called on.