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NRI AT 20: TRAINED IMMUNITY

The epigenetic ghost of infections past

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 21, pages 622–623 (2021)Cite this article

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During my time as a medical student 30 years ago, I grew fascinated by the intricate regulation of the immune system and the capacity of lymphocytes to recognize specific antigens and remember them years later. I considered B and T cells to be the ‘smart cells’ of the immune system, whereas myeloid cells, such as monocytes, macrophages and neutrophils, were important but forgettable labourers, repeating the same routine on each pathogen encounter.

This view of innate immunity changed fundamentally with the publication of two papers by Quintin et al. and Kleijnnijenhuis et al. in 2012, showing that myeloid cells do not respond in the same way on every pathogen encounter but can store information of previous encounters and use that information to improve their response on secondary stimulation. This form of ‘immune memory’ by innate immune cells has been termed trained immunity and has since been shown to be involved not only in host defence but also in the pathophysiology of many immune-mediated diseases.

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References

Original articles

  • Quintin, J. et al. Candida albicans infection affords protection against reinfection via functional reprogramming of monocytes. Cell Host Microbe 12, 223–232 (2012)

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  • Kleinnijenhuis, J. et al. Bacille Calmette-Guérin induces NOD2-dependent nonspecific protection from reinfection via epigenetic reprogramming of monocytes. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 17537–17542 (2012)

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Related articles

  • Saeed, S. et al. Epigenetic programming of monocyte-to-macrophage differentiation and trained innate immunity. Science 345, 1251086 (2014)

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  • Sun, J. C., Beilke, J. N. & Lanier, L. L. Adaptive immune features in natural killer cells. Nature 457, 557–561 (2009)

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  • Priem, B. et al. Trained immunity-promoting nanobiologic therapy suppresses tumor growth and potentiates checkpoint inhibition. Cell 183, 786–801 (2020)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands

    Mihai G. Netea

  2. Life and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Mihai G. Netea

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  1. Mihai G. Netea
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Correspondence to Mihai G. Netea.

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Netea, M.G. The epigenetic ghost of infections past. Nat Rev Immunol 21, 622–623 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-021-00605-z

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