Chemokine guidance of central memory T cells is critical for antiviral recall responses in lymph nodes

Abstract

A defining feature of vertebrate immunity is the acquisition of immunological memory, which confers enhanced protection against pathogens by mechanisms that are incompletely understood. Here, we compared responses by virus-specific naive T cells (TN) and central memory T cells (T CM) to viral antigen challenge in lymph nodes (LNs). In steady-state LNs, both T cell subsets localized in the deep T cell area and interacted similarly with antigen-presenting dendritic cells. However, upon entry of lymph-borne virus, only TCM relocalized rapidly and efficiently toward the outermost LN regions in the medullary, interfollicular, and subcapsular areas where viral infection was initially confined. Thi..