IMMUNOLOGY2025™ Conference Recordings-Generation of tissue resident memory T cells: timing matters

Generation of tissue resident memory T cells: timing matters - Donna Farber

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The speaker described research on tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM), a memory subset that stays in tissues like the lungs and intestines and provides strong local protection against infections, cancer, and some inflammatory diseases. She explained how her team studies TRM in humans using tissues from organ donors across the lifespan, allowing analysis of both circulating and resident T cells. Their data show that each tissue has a distinct TRM composition and gene signature, with the gut, lung, and lymphoid organs showing different adaptations. TRM begin forming in early childhood, mature by about age five, and then persist for decades while continuously turning over without showing typical signs of immunosenescence. Using mouse models of sequential influenza infection, her lab found that earlier TRM occupy key niches around airways and protect better than later “newcomer” TRM, which preferentially associate with B-cell follicles and are more TFH-like.

Keywords

tissue-resident memory T cells

TRM

organ donor tissues

immune memory

influenza infection

immunosenescence