Staged development of long-lived T-cell receptor αβ TH17 resident memory T-cell population to Candida albicans after skin infection

Abstract

Background: Candida albicans is a dimorphic fungus to which human subjects are exposed early in life, and by adulthood, it is part of the mycobiome of skin and other tissues. Neonatal skin lacks resident memory T (TRM) cells, but in adults the C albicans skin test is a surrogate for immunocompetence. Young adult mice raised under specific pathogen-free conditions are naive to C albicans and have been shown recently to have an immune system resembling that of neonatal human subjects. Objective: We studied the evolution of the adaptive cutaneous immune response to Candida species. Methods: We examined both human skin T cells and the de novo and memory immune responses in a mouse model of C alb..