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Immunology

Looking out for memory T cells

Nature volume 399, pages 531–532 (1999)Cite this article

After infection or vaccination, many organisms can ‘remember’ the identity of the pathogen (antigen) responsible, allowing them to respond with enhanced vigour and protecting them from re-infection, sometimes throughout life1. This phenomenon, known as immunological memory, depends on antigen-specific lymphocytes — the long-lived ‘memory’ T cells that are generated during the first encounter with a particular antigen. If we could identify T cells with memory potential (that is, the capacity for long-term survival), this would be extremely useful for assessing vaccinating protocols, and, more generally, for investigating immune responses. Jacob and Baltimore2, reporting on page 593of this issue, claim that this can now be done.

During the first response to a pathogen, many antigen-specific T cells are generated but only a minority survive. The kinetics of such responses can be divided into three distinct phases1. The first is expansion, in which antigen-specific lymphocytes are activated to divide. The number of lymphocytes rapidly becomes enormous, and the lymphoid organs (such as the spleen and lymph nodes) enlarge to accommodate them. The activated T cells then begin to take on ‘effector’ functions; they secrete cytokines (peptides that signal between lymphoid and non-lymphoid cells), and kill infected target cells. The second phase is contraction. Division and the effector functions of the activated T cells subside as the antigen — the driving force behind these phenomena — is gradually eliminated. Over 95% of the antigen-specific T cells then die, and the lymphoid organs return to their normal size. Finally comes the memory phase, in which those T cells that have been spared by the contraction phase survive for long periods, forming a stable pool of ‘memory’ cells.

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Figure 1: Strategy used by Jacob and Baltimore2 to label activated T cells in vivo.
Figure 2: Model for the development of memory T cells.

References

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  1. Institut Necker, INSERM U 345, 156 rue de Vaugirard, 75015, Paris, France

    Benedita Rocha

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  1. Benedita Rocha
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Rocha, B. Looking out for memory T cells. Nature 399, 531–532 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/21086

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