Form and function for T cells in health and disease (2024)

Year in Review
Published: 30 December 2019

T CELLS IN 2019

Donna L. Farber ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8236-9183^1,2,3

Nature Reviews Immunology volume20,pages 83–84 (2020)Cite this article

7410 Accesses
22 Citations
38 Altmetric
Metrics details

Subjects

T cells

Understanding the complexity of T cell subsets and their role in disease has been a continuing effort. In 2019, the field saw a number of important advances in identifying new T cell subsets and functional states associated with immunopathology, described molecular mechanisms involved in T cell dysregulation in infection and cancer, and provided insight into what defines a healthy T cell state.

Key advances

Different types of T follicular helper (T_FH) cell subtypes were identified with specific roles in allergic diseases and anaphylaxis and in promoting recurrent infections.
CD4⁺ tissue-resident memory T cells are generated from effector cells infiltrating intestines and can mediate direct roles in inflammatory bowel disease.
The TOX and related TOX2 transcription factors direct a functional programme of exhaustion in CD8⁺ effector T cells and T_FH cell differentiation and promote BCL-6 expression in CD4⁺ T cells.
CD4⁺ T cell help is required for optimal T cell-mediated immunotherapy in cancer to counteract T cell exhaustion.
Form and function for T cells can be resolved by single-cell transcriptome profiling, providing context for human T cell functional states in diseases.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Irgm1 regulates metabolism and function in T cell subsets
- Yazan Alwarawrah
- , Keiko Danzaki
- …Nancie J. MacIver
Scientific Reports Open Access 17 January 2022
Sex differences in neuro(auto)immunity and chronic sciatic nerve pain
- Katja Linher-Melville
- , Anita Shah
- &Gurmit Singh
Biology of Sex Differences Open Access 12 November 2020

Access options

Access through your institution

Change institution

Buy or subscribe

References

Crotty, S. Follicular helper CD4 T cells (T_FH). Annu. Rev. Immunol. 29, 621–663 (2011).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Kobayashi, T. et al. Follicular helper T cells mediate IgE antibody response to airborne allergens. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 139, 300–313 (2017).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Gowthaman, U. et al. Identification of a T follicular helper cell subset that drives anaphylactic IgE. Science 365, eaaw6433 (2019).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Dan, J. M. et al. Recurrent group A Streptococcus tonsillitis is an immunosusceptibility disease involving antibody deficiency and aberrant T_FH cells. Sci. Transl Med. 11, eaau3776 (2019).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Amezcua Vesely, M. C. et al. Effector T_H17 cells give rise to long-lived T_RM cells that are essential for an immediate response against bacterial infection. Cell 178, 1176–1188 (2019).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Zundler, S. et al. Hobit- and Blimp-1-driven CD4⁺ tissue-resident memory T cells control chronic intestinal inflammation. Nat. Immunol. 20, 288–300 (2019).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Bordon, Y. TOX for tired T cells. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 19, 476 (2019).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Xu, W. et al. The transcription factor Tox2 drives T follicular helper cell development via regulating chromatin accessibility. Immunity 51, 826–839 (2019).
Article CAS Google Scholar
Szabo, P. A. et al. Single-cell transcriptomics of human T cells reveals tissue and activation signatures in health and disease. Nat. Commun. 10, 4706 (2019).
Article Google Scholar
Alspach, E. et al. MHC-II neoantigens shape tumour immunity and response to immunotherapy. Nature 574, 696–701 (2019).
Article CAS Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) AI128949 and AI106697 awarded to D.L.F.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Columbia Center for Translational Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Donna L. Farber
Department of Surgery, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Donna L. Farber
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Donna L. Farber

Authors

Donna L. Farber
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMedGoogle Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Donna L. Farber.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Farber, D.L. Form and function for T cells in health and disease. Nat Rev Immunol 20, 83–84 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-019-0267-8

Download citation

Published: 30 December 2019
Issue Date: February 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-019-0267-8

This article is cited by

Irgm1 regulates metabolism and function in T cell subsets
- Yazan Alwarawrah
- Keiko Danzaki
- Nancie J. MacIver
Scientific Reports (2022)
Sex differences in neuro(auto)immunity and chronic sciatic nerve pain
- Katja Linher-Melville
- Anita Shah
- Gurmit Singh
Biology of Sex Differences (2020)