Location, location, location: the impact of migratory heterogeneity on T cell function

Front. Immunol., 08 October 2013 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2013.00311

REVIEW ARTICLE

Bas J. G. Baaten¹, Andrea M. Cooper², Susan L. Swain³ andLinda M. Bradley¹*

• ¹Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases Center, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
• ²Trudeau Institute, Saranac Lake, NY, USA
• ³Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA

T cell migration is crucial for an effective adaptive immune response to invading pathogens. Naive and memory T cells encounter pathogen antigens, become activated, and differentiate into effector cells in secondary lymphoid tissues, and then migrate to the site(s) of infection where they exert effector activities that control and eliminate pathogens. To achieve activation, efficient effector function, and good memory formation, T cells must traffic between lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues within the body. This complex process is facilitated by chemokine receptors, selectins, CD44, and integrins that mediate the interactions of T cells with the environment. The expression patterns of these migration receptors (MR) dictate the tissues into which the effector T cells migrate and enable them to occupy specific niches within the tissue. While MR have been considered primarily to facilitate cell movement, we highlight how the heterogeneity of signaling through these receptors influences the function and fate of T cells in situ. We explore what drives MR expression heterogeneity, how this affects migration, and how this impacts T cell effector function and memory formation.

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Keywords: T cell, heterogeneity, subset, migration, memory, cellular, immunity, motility

Citation: Baaten BJG, Cooper AM, Swain SL and Bradley LM (2013) Location, location, location: the impact of migratory heterogeneity on T cell function. Front. Immunol. 4:311. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2013.00311

Received: 26 July 2013; Accepted: 16 September 2013;
Published online: 08 October 2013.

Edited by:

Stephen Philip Schoenberger, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, USA

Reviewed by:

Linda S. Cauley, University of Connecticut Health Center, USA
Shahram Salek-Ardakani, University of Florida, USA

Copyright: © 2013 Baaten, Cooper, Swain and Bradley. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Linda M. Bradley, Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases Center, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA e-mail: lbradley@sanfordburnham.org