Precursors of exhausted T cells are pre-emptively formed in acute infection.

ABSTRACT: T cell exhaustion limits effector T cell function in chronic infection and tumours^1,2. The development of these hypofunctional T cells and of their precursors was considered to require stimulatory conditions that are met only after persistent exposure to antigen and inflammation. Here we show, however, that similar T cell populations exist in the early phase of acute infections^1,2. At that stage, the early developing TCF1⁺ precursor population exhibits an unexpected diversity; it includes precursors of normal memory T cells, but also cells with phenotypic, gene-expression and epigenetic profiles that resemble those of precursors of exhausted T cells found in chronic infections. We show that high ligand affinity promotes and PD-1 signalling restricts the dev

SUBMITTER: Chu T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12003159 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature