Go to The Journal of Clinical Investigation
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Transfers
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Physician-Scientist Development
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • All ...
  • Videos
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Resource and Technical Advances
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Editorials
    • Perspectives
    • Physician-Scientist Development
    • Reviews
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • In-Press Preview
  • Resource and Technical Advances
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Editorials
  • Perspectives
  • Physician-Scientist Development
  • Reviews
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Transfers
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
Antigen-specific decidual CD8+ T cells include distinct effector memory and tissue-resident memory cells
Shweta Mahajan, … , Sandra Andorf, Tamara Tilburgs
Shweta Mahajan, … , Sandra Andorf, Tamara Tilburgs
Published September 8, 2023
Citation Information: JCI Insight. 2023;8(17):e171806. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.171806.
View: Text | PDF
Research Article Immunology Reproductive biology Article has an altmetric score of 21

Antigen-specific decidual CD8+ T cells include distinct effector memory and tissue-resident memory cells

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

Maternal decidual CD8+ T cells must integrate the antithetical demands of providing immunity to infection while maintaining immune tolerance for fetal and placental antigens. Human decidual CD8+ T cells were shown to be highly differentiated memory T cells with mixed signatures of dysfunction, activation, and effector function. However, no information is present on how specificity for microbial or fetal antigens relates to their function or dysfunction. In addition, a key question, whether decidual CD8+ T cells include unique tissue-resident memory T cells (Trm) or also effector memory T cell (Tem) types shared with peripheral blood populations, is unknown. Here, high-dimensional flow cytometry of decidual and blood CD8+ T cells identified 2 Tem populations shared in blood and decidua and 9 functionally distinct Trm clusters uniquely found in decidua. Interestingly, fetus- and virus-specific decidual CD8+ Trm cells had similar features of inhibition and cytotoxicity, with no significant differences in their expression of activation, inhibitory, and cytotoxic molecules, suggesting that not all fetus-specific CD8+ T cell responses are suppressed at the maternal-fetal interface. Understanding how decidual CD8+ T cell specificity relates to their function and tissue residency is crucial in advancing understanding of their contribution to placental inflammation and control of congenital infections.

Authors

Shweta Mahajan, Aria Alexander, Zachary Koenig, Nicholas Saba, Nina Prasanphanich, David A. Hildeman, Claire A. Chougnet, Emily DeFranco, Sandra Andorf, Tamara Tilburgs

×

Graphical abstract

Options: View larger image (or click on image)

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN 2379-3708

Sign up for email alerts

Blogged by 1
Posted by 20 X users
16 readers on Mendeley
See more details