Memory Cells: Regulatory Steps in Generating Protective Immunity

Memory T cells confer immune protection against a diverse range of pathogens. The quantity and quality of responding memory T cells depends on a number of factors including cytokines, recognition of pathogen-derived MHC complexes, and costimulatory molecules. Integration of these signals ensures that T cell responses are tightly regulated. Delineating the mechanisms that regulate the differentiation, establishment, and maintenance of memory T cells is fundamental to life-long immune protection and for engineering of effective T cell-based vaccines.

Despite extensive research dissecting the features of T cell memory, many aspects of this process remain incompletely understood. This is in part due to a realization that integral to protective memory is the existence of multiple T cell subsets with diverse distributions to lymphoid, mucosal, and non-lymphoid sites. While there is a consensus that T cell memory is essential, which cells provide effective memory in different infections and at different anatomical sites evokes considerable debate.

This volume brings together a collection of articles that are intended to summarize the current thinking on the development of immunological memory and to highlight important areas of investigation for the future in teasing apart the ability of the immune system to preserve the knowledge of a previously encountered antigen or pathogen and to use this to vigorously defend against a second or subsequent infection.