Tissue-resident memory T cells orchestrate tumour-immune equilibrium

Abstract

The immune system can prevent tumour development by engaging in a process termed cancer immunosurveillance, during which immune cells such as T cells restrict tumour growth either by completely eradicating cancer cells in a process of 'elimination' or by suppressing cancer cell outgrowth by establishing a state of tumour-immune 'equilibrium'. Most cancers develop within epithelial layers of tissues but circulating T cells are largely excluded from these epithelial tissue compartments in the absence of infection or overt inflammation. In contrast, CD8+ tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells reside permanently within epithelial layers of peripheral tissues without recirculating in blood. Accumul..