6533b824fe1ef96bd12801ff

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Human Vδ1+ T Cells in the Immune Response to Plasmodium falciparum Infection

Lars HviidLars HviidCecilia Smith-togoboCecilia Smith-togoboBenjamin E. Willcox

subject

0301 basic medicinelcsh:Immunologic diseases. AllergyCell typeImmunologyPlasmodium falciparummalariaVdelta1 gamma delta T cells03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicineImmune systemAntigenparasitic diseasesImmunology and AllergyReceptorinnate immunityInnate immune systembiologyT-cell receptorgamma-delta (γ/δ) T lymphocytesPlasmodium falciparumAcquired immune systembiology.organism_classificationacquired immunity030104 developmental biologyImmunologylcsh:RC581-607030215 immunology

description

Naturally acquired protective immunity to Plasmodium falciparum malaria is mainly antibody-mediated. However, other cells of the innate and adaptive immune system also play important roles. These include so-called unconventional T cells, which express a γδ T-cell receptor (TCR) rather than the αβ TCR expressed by the majority of T cells-the conventional T cells. The γδ T-cell compartment can be divided into distinct subsets. One expresses a TCR involving Vγ9 and Vδ2, while another major subset uses instead a TCR composed of Vδ1 paired with one of several types of γ chains. The former of these subsets uses a largely semi-invariant TCR repertoire and responds in an innate-like fashion to pyrophosphate antigens generated by various stressed host cells and infectious pathogens, including P. falciparum. In this short review, we focus instead on the Vδ1 subset, which appears to have a more adaptive immunobiology, but which has been much less studied in general and in malaria in particular. We discuss the evidence that Vδ1+ cells do indeed play a role in malaria and speculate on the function and specificity of this cell type, which is increasingly attracting the attention of immunologists.

10.3389/fimmu.2019.00259https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2019.00259/full