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Parallels and differences between innate and adaptive lymphocytes

Nature Immunology volume 17, pages 490–494 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Lymphocytes are essential in innate and adaptive immunity. Recent insights suggest that some innate lymphocytes execute functions with adaptive characteristics, while adaptive lymphocytes can operate in ways reminiscent of innate cells. Rather than partitioning lymphocytes according to the type of effector function they execute, we propose that a relevant discrimination relates to the existence of conventional T cells in a naive state. The naive state can be seen as an actively repressed condition that supports T cell diversity and enables the flexible differentiation of effector cells in a manner that best addresses the antigenic challenge. We discuss these considerations in the context of the relative roles of innate lymphoid cells and antigen-experienced T cells in the immune system.

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Figure 1: Conventional T cells and innate and innate-like lymphocytes differentially acquire the ability to execute overlapping sets of effector functions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Brooks, N. La Gruta, B. Russ, S. Turner, D. Godfrey, D. Gray and N. Garbi for input and discussions. Supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation, the German Research Council graduate program (2168/1 ('Bo&MeRang'), for S.B., T.G. and W.K.; the Emmy Noether program, for G.G.; and the Excellence Cluster ImmunoSensation in Bonn, Germany, for W.K.) and NRW-Rückkehrerprogramm of the German state of Northrhine-Westfalia (W.K.).

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Author notes

  1. Sammy Bedoui, Thomas Gebhardt, Georg Gasteiger and Wolfgang Kastenmüller: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the Doherty Institute for Infection & Immunity, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Sammy Bedoui & Thomas Gebhardt

  2. Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene and Forschungszentrum für Immuntherapie, University of Mainz Medical Centre, Mainz, Germany

    Georg Gasteiger

  3. Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.,

    Wolfgang Kastenmüller

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Bedoui, S., Gebhardt, T., Gasteiger, G. et al. Parallels and differences between innate and adaptive lymphocytes. Nat Immunol 17, 490–494 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3432

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