Lymphocyte activation articles from across Nature Portfolio

Prediction of the specificity of a T cell receptor from amino acid sequence has been performed using different methods and approaches. Here the authors use TCRab sequences with known specificity to develop a deep learning TCR-epitope interaction predictor and use this method to predict specificity of dual alpha chain TCRs and TCRs specific for different antigens.

CD103⁺ T cells are associated with control over tumors but how this is mediated is unclear. Here the authors show that CD61 colocalizes and functionally combines with CD103 in the T cell synaptic response to promote antitumor T cell responses.

Activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is important in the metabolic function of proinflammatory T cells in autoimmunity. Here the authors characterise how Rab4A is involved with CD98 and endosome recycling which subsequently affects mTOR activation, autoimmunity and T cell expansion.

The migration of T cells into tumours and how this is regulated by metabolic pathways is not completely understood. Here the authors use human and xenograft mouse models to explore the functional changes in T cells during migration in tumours and how glycolytic and TCA cycle metabolism is involved.

Antibodies stimulating the T cell co-activator 4-1BB (CD137) do enhance anti-tumour T cell function, but their utility is hampered by on target, off tumor toxicity. Here authors show that anchoring anti-4-1BB to tumours via fusion with the collagen binding protein LAIR diminishes systemic dissemination of the drug, and they demonstrate a curative effect in a triple-combination-therapy that relieves regulatory T cell immunosuppression in a mouse model of cancer.

T cells exist in many functional states, and dynamic transitions from one state to another affect the outcome of adoptive T cell therapy. FOXP1 and KLF2 are now identified as transcriptional regulators of the stemness of CD8⁺ CAR-T cells and the bifurcation of stem-like CD8⁺ CAR-T cells into effector and exhausted subsets, respectively.

A preprint by Fast et al. describes TAPIR, a computational tool for predicting TCR–pMHC interactions.

Aberrant immune responses to the intestinal microbiome have emerged as major contributors to chronic intestinal inflammation, but the microbial species involved in inflammatory bowel diseases remain unknown. Our study identified dietary and commensal yeasts of the gut that drive the expansion of some cross-reactive CD4⁺ type 1 helper T cells with cytotoxic effector functions, which potentially contributes to immunopathology in patients with Crohn’s disease.

Human mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells exhibit many functions, but whether this reflects different subsets is unknown. We defined the transcriptional and clonal landscape of MAIT cells in human blood and liver. Our study reveals limited transcriptional variation within tissues, but marked phenotypic and functional plasticity according to tissue, clone, and most notably, stimulus.