The continuing revolution in virus-specific CD8 T cell-mediated immunity

Abstract

With new techniques now available to quantitative virus-specific CTL, new ideas about the magnitude of precursor, effector, and memory CTLs are emerging. Here, Peter Doherty, Gabrielle Belz, and Kristen Flynn discuss the technical breakthroughs that allow quantitation, the need for consensus on nomenclature and the implications of the early findings.