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RESIDENT MEMORY

Resident T cells seek the perfect place to work from home

Nature Immunology volume 22, pages 1076–1078 (2021)Cite this article

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CD8+ resident memory T (TRM) cells from different tissues form a heterogeneous population. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-independent CD103– TRM cells in the liver retain the ability to move to barrier tissues or return to secondary lymphoid organs.

TRM cells provide superior protection against pathogens, partly because their location within the tissue makes them the first subset to encounter the pathogen1. TRM cells have been identified in both barrier tissues, such as the gut, skin, lung and reproductive tract, and also in the visceral organs, such as the liver3. These populations in diverse organs are united by a shared transcriptional program, which is driven by a core group of transcription factors—specifically, by upregulation of Hobit, Blimp-1 and Runx3 and downregulation of Eomes and Tbet4,5,6. The residency of TRM cells has traditionally been established through the use of parabiotic mice, in which the blood supplies of two congenically distinct mice are joined together1. In these experiments, tissue-resident populations are predominantly identified within the original animal, displaying minimal capacity to recirculate between animals, unlike their blood-borne counterparts. Analogous methods have also utilized tissue transplantation to show the restricted recirculation of cells from donor tissue into the host circulation7.

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Fig. 1: Liver TRM cells possess the ability to relocate to the skin to become TGF-β-dependent TRM cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Animal Physiology and Immunology, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany

    Hayley A. McNamara

  2. Division of Immunology, Inflammation and Infection, John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Ian A. Cockburn

Authors
  1. Hayley A. McNamara
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  2. Ian A. Cockburn
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Correspondence to Ian A. Cockburn.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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McNamara, H.A., Cockburn, I.A. Resident T cells seek the perfect place to work from home. Nat Immunol 22, 1076–1078 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-021-01003-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-021-01003-2

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