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1. Malnutrition Disrupts T Cell Migration

   https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.208.Supp.167.08  

   Dadzie, Kwesi A.; Foster, Takesha R; Mister, Abigail; Goulmamine, Syreen; Gibson, David; Adams, Olivia; Gubbels-Bupp, Melanie R (May 2022, The Journal of Immunology)

   Abstract Malnutrition is associated with reductions in the number and function of T lymphocytes. Previous studies in the lab suggest that malnutrition may also impart a “super-quiescent” phenotype to T cells, perhaps affecting the efficiency of their migration within and between lymph nodes. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of malnutrition on T cell migration in vivo and to characterize malnutrition-induced changes in the expression of proteins known to be important for T cell migration. To determine if malnourishment alters T cell migration in vivo, we compared lymph node entry rates of adoptively-transferred malnourished and control T cells in malnourished and control recipients. In agreement with other studies, control CD4+ T cells were more efficient than control CD8+ T cells at entering the lymph nodes. Interestingly, regardless of recipient diet, malnourished CD4+ and CD8+ T cells entered the lymph nodes at equivalent rates, suggesting that malnourishment eliminates distinct lymph node entry efficiencies for CD8+ and CD4+ T cells. We also found important differences in the expression of key proteins involved in T cell migration between malnourished and control mice. Overall, we found that malnutrition disrupts T cell migration including the distinct migration efficiencies of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. An improved understanding of T cell-intrinsic changes that occur during malnourishment should enhance our knowledge of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell migration and shed light on how organisms adapt to malnutrition. Supported by NSF-MRI [DBI- 1920116] NSF-RUI [IOS-1951881] 

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2. T cell immune responses deciphered

   https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq1679  

   Nourmohammad, Armita (May 2022, Science)

   An immune response involves a coordinated orchestra of antigen-recognizing cells ( e.g. , T cells) and signaling molecules to mount a specific response against a pathogen. Although systems immunology offers a growing list of molecular interactions that are involved in antigen-specific immune responses, an understanding of how a response is mediated by different antigen characteristics is still lacking. On page 880 of this issue, Achar et al. ( 1 ) address this question by using a robotic platform to survey a broad range of functional T cell responses to different antigen stimulations. Using machine learning, they construct a simplified map that separates six different stereotypical classes of antigen-dependent immune responses. Understanding this antigen-encoding could help guide immunotherapy, including engineering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)–T cells and identifying vaccine antigens. 

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3. Quantitative analyses of T cell motion in tissue reveals factors driving T cell search in tissues

   https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.84916  

   Torres, David J; Mrass, Paulus; Byrum, Janie; Gonzales, Arrick; Martinez, Dominick N; Juarez, Evelyn; Thompson, Emily; Vezys, Vaiva; Moses, Melanie E; Cannon, Judy L (October 2023, eLife)

   T cells are required to clear infection, and T cell motion plays a role in how quickly a T cell finds its target, from initial naive T cell activation by a dendritic cell to interaction with target cells in infected tissue. To better understand how different tissue environments affect T cell motility, we compared multiple features of T cell motion including speed, persistence, turning angle, directionality, and confinement of T cells moving in multiple murine tissues using microscopy. We quantitatively analyzed naive T cell motility within the lymph node and compared motility parameters with activated CD8 T cells moving within the villi of small intestine and lung under different activation conditions. Our motility analysis found that while the speeds and the overall displacement of T cells vary within all tissues analyzed, T cells in all tissues tended to persist at the same speed. Interestingly, we found that T cells in the lung show a marked population of T cells turning at close to 180^o, while T cells in lymph nodes and villi do not exhibit this “reversing” movement. T cells in the lung also showed significantly decreased meandering ratios and increased confinement compared to T cells in lymph nodes and villi. These differences in motility patterns led to a decrease in the total volume scanned by T cells in lung compared to T cells in lymph node and villi. These results suggest that the tissue environment in which T cells move can impact the type of motility and ultimately, the efficiency of T cell search for target cells within specialized tissues such as the lung. 

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4. Unusual T cell receptor in opossum

   https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg7639  

   Criscitiello, Michael F. (March 2021, Science)

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5. Lattice Light-Sheet Microscopy Multi-dimensional Analyses (LaMDA) of T-Cell Receptor Dynamics Predict T-Cell Signaling States

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2020.04.006  

   Rosenberg, Jillian; Cao, Guoshuai; Borja-Prieto, Fernanda; Huang, Jun (May 2020, Cell Systems)

   null (Ed.)