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Science 3 August 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5838, pp. 622 - 625
DOI: 10.1126/science.1143775
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Perspective

Division of Labor with a Workforce of One: Challenges in Specifying Effector and Memory T Cell Fate

Steven L. Reiner,1* Federica Sallusto,2* Antonio Lanzavecchia2*

In the course of the immune response against microbes, naïve T cells proliferate and generate varied classes of effector cells, as well as memory cells with distinct properties and functions. Owing to recent technological advances, some of the most imposing questions regarding effector and memory T cell differentiation are now becoming experimentally soluble: How many classes of antigen-specific T cells exist, and how malleable are they in their fate and in their functional state? How might a spectrum of cell fates be imparted to the clonal descendants of a single lymphocyte? Where, when, and how does pathogen-associated information refine the instruction, selection, and direction of newly activated T cells as they perform their tasks in different locations and times? Some surprising new glimpses ahead on these subjects and other yet-unanswered questions are discussed.

1 Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
2 Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Via Vincenzo Vela 6, CH-6500 Bellinzona, Switzerland.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sreiner{at}mail.med.upenn.edu (S.L.R); federica.sallusto{at}irb.unisi.ch (F.S.); lanzavecchia{at}irb.unisi.ch (A.L.)

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Brief Antigenic Stimulation Generates Effector CD8 T Cells with Low Cytotoxic Activity and High IL-2 Production.
D. Usharauli and T. Kamala (2008)
J. Immunol. 180, 4507-4513
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Epigenetic Flexibility Underlying Lineage Choices in the Adaptive Immune System.
D. Kioussis and K. Georgopoulos (2007)
Science 317, 620-622
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)