Abstract
Recent work has demonstrated that following the clearance of infection a stable population of memory T cells remains present in peripheral organs and contributes to the control of secondary infections. However, little is known about how tissue-resident memory T cells behave in situ and how they encounter newly infected target cells. Here we demonstrate that antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells that remain in skin following herpes simplex virus infection show a steady-state crawling behavior in between keratinocytes. Spatially explicit simulations of the migration of these tissue-resident memory T cells indicate that the migratory dendritic behavior of these cells allows the detection of antigen-expressing target cells in physiologically relevant time frames of minutes to hours. Furthermore, we provide direct evidence for the identification of rare antigen-expressing epithelial cells by skin-patrolling memory T cells in vivo. These data demonstrate the existence of skin patrol by memory T cells and reveal the value of this patrol in the rapid detection of renewed infections at a previously infected site.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 19739-19744 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 109 |
Issue number | 48 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |