1. T cells in health and disease.
- Author
-
Sun L, Su Y, Jiao A, Wang X, and Zhang B
- Subjects
- Humans, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes, T-Lymphocyte Subsets, Thymus Gland, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, Autoimmune Diseases genetics
- Abstract
T cells are crucial for immune functions to maintain health and prevent disease. T cell development occurs in a stepwise process in the thymus and mainly generates CD4
+ and CD8+ T cell subsets. Upon antigen stimulation, naïve T cells differentiate into CD4+ helper and CD8+ cytotoxic effector and memory cells, mediating direct killing, diverse immune regulatory function, and long-term protection. In response to acute and chronic infections and tumors, T cells adopt distinct differentiation trajectories and develop into a range of heterogeneous populations with various phenotype, differentiation potential, and functionality under precise and elaborate regulations of transcriptional and epigenetic programs. Abnormal T-cell immunity can initiate and promote the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of T cell development, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell classification, and differentiation in physiological settings. We further elaborate the heterogeneity, differentiation, functionality, and regulation network of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in infectious disease, chronic infection and tumor, and autoimmune disease, highlighting the exhausted CD8+ T cell differentiation trajectory, CD4+ T cell helper function, T cell contributions to immunotherapy and autoimmune pathogenesis. We also discuss the development and function of γδ T cells in tissue surveillance, infection, and tumor immunity. Finally, we summarized current T-cell-based immunotherapies in both cancer and autoimmune diseases, with an emphasis on their clinical applications. A better understanding of T cell immunity provides insight into developing novel prophylactic and therapeutic strategies in human diseases., (© 2023. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF