Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Sep;255(1):165-81.
doi: 10.1111/imr.12087.

Tissue-resident memory T cells

Haina Shin  1 , Akiko Iwasaki
Affiliations
Review

Tissue-resident memory T cells

Haina Shin et al. Immunol Rev. 2013 Sep.

Abstract

Tissues such as the genital tract, skin, and lung act as barriers against invading pathogens. To protect the host, incoming microbes must be quickly and efficiently controlled by the immune system at the portal of entry. Memory is a hallmark of the adaptive immune system, which confers long-term protection and is the basis for efficacious vaccines. While the majority of existing vaccines rely on circulating antibody for protection, struggles to develop antibody-based vaccines against infections such as herpes simplex virus (HSV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have underscored the need to generate memory T cells for robust antiviral control. The circulating memory T-cell population is generally divided into two subsets: effector memory (TEM ) and central memory (TCM ). These two subsets can be distinguished by their localization, as TCM home to secondary lymphoid organs and TEM circulate through non-lymphoid tissues. More recently, studies have identified a third subset, called tissue-resident memory (TRM ) cells, based on its migratory properties. This subset is found in peripheral tissues that require expression of specific chemoattractants and homing receptors for T-cell recruitment and retention, including barrier sites such as the skin and genital tract. In this review, we categorize different tissues in the body based on patterns of memory T-cell migration and tissue residency. This review also describes the rules for TRM generation and the properties that distinguish them from circulating TEM and TCM cells. Finally, based on the failure of recent T-cell-based vaccines to provide optimal protection, we also discuss the potential role of TRM cells in vaccine design against microbes that invade through the peripheral tissues and highlight new vaccination strategies that take advantage of this newly described memory T-cell subset.

Keywords: T cells; T-cell migration; cell lineages and subsets; infectious diseases; vaccines.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Categorization of tissues by T-cell migration properties
Examples of organs that are defined as permissive tissues are shown in blue. Examples of effector permissive tissues are show in green, and restrictive tissues are shown in yellow. Not all organs that fall under each category are shown.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Jenkins MK, Chu HH, McLachlan JB, Moon JJ. On the composition of the preimmune repertoire of T cells specific for peptide-major histocompatibility complex ligands. Annu Rev Immunol. 2010;28:275–294. - PubMed
    1. Kaech SM, Wherry EJ. Heterogeneity and cell-fate decisions in effector and memory CD8+ T cell Differentiation during viral infection. Immunity. 2007;27:393–405. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shin H, Wherry EJ. CD8 T cell dysfunction during chronic viral infection. Curr Opin Immunol. 2007;19:408–415. - PubMed
    1. Keele BF, et al. Identification and characterization of transmitted and early founder virus envelopes in primary HIV-1 infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2008. 2008;105:7552–7557. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abrahams M-R, et al. Quantitating the Multiplicity of Infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Subtype C Reveals a Non-Poisson Distribution of Transmitted Variants. J Virol. 2009;83:3556–3567. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources