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Parasite immunity

Arming T cells early

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 7, pages 658–659 (2007)Cite this article

Sporozoites of Plasmodium spp. are injected into the skin of the host through the bite of an infected mosquito, and subsequently travel to the liver, where they infect hepatocytes. CD8+ T cells are known to be important in protection against liver-stage malaria; however, much less is known about where CD8+ T cells are activated and about the role of antigen-presenting cells in this process. Using a mouse infection model that mimics natural infection, the authors examined where CD8+ T-cell priming occurs in response to sporozoites. They found that antigen-specific CD8+ T cells are primed by dendritic cells (DCs) in skin-draining lymph nodes, and not in liver-draining lymph nodes as previously suggested. Further analysis showed that CD8+ T-cell activation was at least partially dependent on the cross-presentation of exogenous antigen from viable sporozoites acquired by immature DCs at these sites.

The removal of cutaneous lymphoid tissues before immunization with sporozoites resulted in reduced numbers of effector CD8+ T cells in the liver and reduced clearance of the parasites compared with control mice, indicating that CD8+ T cells primed in cutaneous lymph nodes migrate from the skin to the liver where they provide protective immunity. Egress of CD8+ T cells from cutaneous lymph nodes to the liver was shown to occur in a sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)-dependent manner.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Chakravarty, S. et al. CD8+ T lymphocytes protective against malaria liver stages are primed in skin-draining lymph nodes. Nature Med. 19 August 2007 (doi: 10.1038/nm1628)

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  1. Olive Leavy
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Leavy, O. Arming T cells early. Nat Rev Immunol 7, 658–659 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri2165

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