The research might aid in enhancing vaccine efficacy and battling a number of autoimmune diseases.
“Understanding what each Trm cell type does allows us to formulate vaccines that generate the most effective type of Trm cell to combat a given infection, and our previous work suggests we can modify vaccines to shift the balance of these two cell types,” said Tessa Bergsbaken, an assistant professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the senior author of the study. “Trm cells are not always beneficial.
Many T cells circulate throughout the body “looking” for the antigen they’re supposed to protect against, but Trm cells attach themselves in barrier tissues that separate the body from the outside world: skin, eyes, nasal passages, and the entire digestive tract. Previous research has revealed various subtypes of Trm cells, which are distinguished primarily by the expression of two specific proteins, CD103 and CD69. However, the functional differences between Trm subtypes remained a mystery.
They found that CD103+ cells didn’t multiply after reinfection or attack the invaders directly. Instead, it was the CD103- cells that multiplied upon reinfection and attacked the bacteria.