Human T Cell Development, Localization, and Function throughout Life

Throughout life, T cells coordinate multiple aspects of adaptive immunity, including responses to pathogens, allergens, and tumors. In mouse models, the role of T cells is studied in the context of a specific type of pathogen, antigen, or disease condition over a limited time frame, whereas in human...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Immunity (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2018-02, Vol.48 (2), p.202-213
Main Authors: Kumar, Brahma V., Connors, Thomas J., Farber, Donna L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive Immunity
Age
Allergens
Animal models
Animals
Antigens
Cell-mediated immunity
Cells
development
Disease control
Fever
Homeostasis
human immunology
Humans
Immune response
Immunity
Immunologic Memory
Immunotherapy
Localization
Lymphocytes
Lymphocytes T
Lymphopoiesis
memory
memory T cells
mucosal immunity
Pathogens
Roles
T cell receptors
T cell subset
T-Lymphocyte Subsets - immunology
T-Lymphocytes - physiology
T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory - immunology
thymus
Tissue Distribution
Tumors
Vaccines
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Summary:Throughout life, T cells coordinate multiple aspects of adaptive immunity, including responses to pathogens, allergens, and tumors. In mouse models, the role of T cells is studied in the context of a specific type of pathogen, antigen, or disease condition over a limited time frame, whereas in humans, T cells control multiple insults simultaneously throughout the body and maintain immune homeostasis over decades. In this review, we discuss how human T cells develop and provide essential immune protection at different life stages and highlight tissue localization and subset delineation as key determinants of the T cell functional role in immune responses. We also discuss how anatomic compartments undergo distinct age-associated changes in T cell subset composition and function over a lifetime. It is important to consider age and tissue influences on human T cells when developing targeted strategies to modulate T cell-mediated immunity in vaccines and immunotherapies. Recent studies of human T cells in diverse tissue sites have revealed that the functional role of T cells is closely linked to the anatomical location, subset, and developmental stage. Kumar et al. review these advances and highlight human-specific aspects of T cell immunity.
ISSN:1074-7613
1097-4180
DOI:10.1016/j.immuni.2018.01.007