Individual central memory T cells are "multipotent"
Researchers in Germany and the U.S. have proven for the first time that specific individual cells of the immune system, termed central memory T cells, have all the essential characteristics of adult tissue stem cells. Such cells are capable of perpetuating themselves indefinitely as well as generating diverse offspring that can reconstitute "tissue" function. These findings indicate that it should be possible to fully restore specific immunity to pathogens in patients with a compromised immune system by substitution of small numbers of central memory T cells. The results, published in the journal Immunity, highlight the therapeutic promise of "stemness" in T cells.
One implication is that future immune-based therapies for infections and other diseases might get effective results from adoptive transfer of small numbers of individual T cells. "In principle, one individual T cell can be enough to transfer effective and long-lasting protective immunity for a defined pathogen or tumor antigen to a patient," says DZIF-Prof. Dirk Busch, director of the Institute for Medicial Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at TUM. "Isn't that astonishing?"
