New players in the immune response

The human body contains 600 to 800 lymph nodes, which are specialised organs that trigger immune responses. To be informed about infections in the body, lymph nodes are connected to the individual organs via lymph vessels. From the organs, the lymph vessels transport fluids and special immune cells to the lymph nodes. These immune cells are called dendritic cells; they carry information from the organs into the lymph nodes and pass it on to other immune cells there.

Now it is clear: the dendritic cells are not solely responsible for this important flow of information. A research team led by immunologist Professor Wolfgang Kastenmüller from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, has discovered that so-called unconventional T cells also continuously migrate from the tissue into the lymph nodes and influence the immune responses there.

This discovery has consequences — for vaccination strategies as well as for immunotherapies against cancer.

Different subtypes of unconventional T cells

“Each tissue in our body has different subtypes of unconventional T cells,” explains Wolfgang Kastenmüller. “Since these cells each migrate to the nearest lymph node, the individual lymph nodes also differ in the composition of the T cells. And that has a direct effect on the immune responses of the individual lymph nodes.”

For example, a lymph node that has been informed about an infection in the lungs triggers a different immune response than a lymph node that receives its information from the intestine or from the skin.

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