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Science 12 November 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5443, p. 1267
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5443.1267a
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News of the Week

IMMUNOLOGY:
Memory T Cells Don't Need Practice

Michael Hagmann

Two reports in this week's issue of Science (pp. 1377 and 1381) bolster the notion that immune cells never forget. The immune cells in question are T cells, which spring into action to kill infected cells or orchestrate other immune responses when other cells "present" them with an appropriate antigen, together with a so-called MHC protein. The new work shows that memory T cells don't need to repeat this experience: They persist and maintain their ability to recognize their specific antigens, even when put into mice that have been genetically altered to eliminate the MHC proteins, which makes antigen presentation impossible.

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