Generation and maintenance of human memory cells d

Authors: Rabih Halwani Mehrnoosh Doroudchi Bader YassineDiab Loury Janbazian Yu Shi Elias A Said Elias K Haddad RafickPierre Sékaly

Publish Date: 2006/09/12

Volume: 28, Issue: 3, Pages: 197-

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Abstract

Longterm maintenance of memory T cell response is the hallmark of immune protection and hence the holy grail of most vaccine development studies Persistent memory cells developed after either viral infection or vaccination ensure the generation of an antiviral response upon reexposure to the pathogen During acute viral infections as in the case of measles and influenza viruses strong T cell effector functions which eradicate the virus and protect patients against reexposure are achieved by the generation of persistent protective memory cells However in chronic infections T cells drastically lose effector functions before acquiring a memory phenotype Chronic infections can be categorized into infections where viremia is controlled and protective memory cells are maintained as in the case of EBV and CMV infections or where the virus persists and memory cells are exhausted and disrupted as in the case of human immunodeficiency virus infection In this review we will discuss the different phenotypical and functional characteristics of memory cells subsets the importance of the role they play during acute and chronic infections and the mechanisms behind their effectiveness and persistence

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