Die Kämpfe únd schláchten—the struggles and battles of innate-like effector T lymphocytes with microbes

Abstract

The large majority of lymphocytes belong to the adaptive immune system, which are made up of B2 B cells and the αβ T cells; these are the effectors in an adaptive immune response. A multitudinous group of lymphoid lineage cells does not fit the conventional lymphocyte paradigm; it is the unconventional lymphocytes. Unconventional lymphocytes—here called innate/innate-like lymphocytes, include those that express rearranged antigen receptor genes and those that do not. Even though the innate/innate-like lymphocytes express rearranged, adaptive antigen-specific receptors, they behave like innate immune cells, which allows them to integrate sensory signals from the innate immune system and relay that umwelt to downstream innate and adaptive effector responses. Here, we review natural killer T cells and mucosal-associated invariant T cells—two prototypic innate-like T lymphocytes, which sense their local environment and relay that umwelt to downstream innate and adaptive effector cells to actuate an appropriate host response that confers immunity to infectious agents.