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The functional plasticity of T cell subsets

2009; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 9; Issue: 11 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/nri2654

1474-1741

Jeffrey A. Bluestone, Charles R. Mackay, John J. O’Shea, Brigitta Stockinger,

Immunotherapy and Immune Responses

The recent re-evaluation of the concept that CD4+T helper cell subsets are irreversibly differentiated lineages has become one of the most hotly debated issues in immunology. Here, four leaders in the field provide their thoughts on the complexities and controversies surrounding the functional plasticity of T cell subsets. In 1986, Robert Coffman and Timothy Mossman first described the division of CD4+ T cells into functional subsets, termed T helper 1 (TH1) and TH2, based on cytokine production, and in doing so unwittingly opened a Pandora's box of complexity and controversy. Although the mechanisms that regulate TH1 and TH2 cells are now well known, recent descriptions of other CD4+ T cell subsets — such as regulatory T cells, T follicular helper cells, TH17, TH22 and most recently TH9 and TH22 cells — have questioned how we think of T cell subsets and what commitment to a functional T cell subset means. Here, Nature Reviews Immunology asks four leaders in the field their thoughts on the functional plasticity of T cell subsets.