title: Tissue-resident memory CD8+ T cells continuously patrol skin epithelia to quickly recognize local antigen.
abstract: Recent work has demonstrated that following the clearance of infection a stable population of memory T cells remains present in peripheral organs and contributes to the control of secondary infections. However, little is known about how tissue-resident memory T cells behave in situ and how they encounter newly infected target cells. Here we demonstrate that antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells that remain in skin following herpes simplex virus infection show a steady-state crawling behavior in between keratinocytes. Spatially explicit simulations of the migration of these tissue-resident memory T cells indicate that the migratory dendritic behavior of these cells allows the detection of antigen-expressing target cells in physiologically relevant time frames of minutes to hours. Furthermore, we provide direct evidence for the identification of rare antigen-expressing epithelial cells by skin-patrolling memory T cells in vivo. These data demonstrate the existence of skin patrol by memory T cells and reveal the value of this patrol in the rapid detection of renewed infections at a previously infected site.
authors.affiliation: Division of Immunology,  The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX, Amsterdam,  The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ariotti
authors.forename: Joost B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Beltman
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chodaczek
authors.forename: Mirjam E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.forename: Anna E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: van Beek
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gomez-Eerland
authors.forename: Laila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ritsma
authors.forename: Jacco
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Rheenen
authors.forename: Athanasius F M
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Marée
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zal
authors.forename: Rob J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: de Boer
authors.forename: John B A G
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Haanen
authors.forename: Ton N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Schumacher
mesh_terms: D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens