title: The dynamic lives of T cells: new approaches and themes.
abstract: Activated T cells have classically been thought to progress unidirectionally through discrete phenotypic states and differentiate into static lineages. It is increasingly evident, however, that T cells exhibit much more complex and flexible dynamic behaviors than initially appreciated, and that these behaviors influence the efficacy of T cell responses to immunological challenges. In this review, we discuss how new technologies for monitoring the dynamics of T cells are enhancing the resolution of the fine phenotypic and functional heterogeneity within populations of T cells and revealing how individual T cells transition among a continuum of states. Such insights into the dynamic properties of T cells should improve immune monitoring and inform strategies for therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Yvonne J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: Todd M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Gierahn
authors.forename: J Christopher
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Love
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D036641:Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton; D010641:Phenotype; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology