Chronic viral infections and malignant tumours are associated with the development of T cells that have an 'exhausted' phenotype and that are thought to be severely functionally impaired. In this Opinion article, the authors propose that the exhausted phenotype is actually a functional adaptation to cause minimal tissue damage while still mediating a critical level of pathogen control.
- Daniel E. Speiser
- Daniel T. Utzschneider
- Dietmar Zehn
