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Memory in disguise

Memory T cells can be maintained for a lifetime, but the underlying mechanism has been hard to pin down. A new study identifies a subset of memory T cells with stem cell properties in humans and shows that these cells mediate a superior antitumor response in a mouse model of adoptive T cell therapy (pages 1290–1297).

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Figure 1: During an immune response, naive T cells (TN) are primed by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in secondary lymphoid organs.

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Correspondence to Federica Sallusto or Antonio Lanzavecchia.

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Sallusto, F., Lanzavecchia, A. Memory in disguise. Nat Med 17, 1182–1183 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2502

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