Schroeder Andrew R, Zhu Fangming, Hu Hui
Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
Fac Rev. 2021;10. doi: 10.12703/r/10-3. Epub 2021 Jan 15.
T follicular helper (Tfh) cells play an essential role in germinal center formation and the generation of high-affinity antibodies. Studies have proposed that Tfh cell differentiation is a multi-step process. However, it is still not fully understood how a subset of activated CD4 T cells begin to express CXCR5 during the early stage of the response and, shortly after, how some CXCR5 precursor Tfh (pre-Tfh) cells enter B cell follicles and differentiate further into germinal center Tfh (GC-Tfh) cells while others have a different fate. In this mini-review, we summarize the recent advances surrounding these two aspects of Tfh cell differentiation and discuss related long-standing questions, including Tfh memory.
滤泡辅助性T(Tfh)细胞在生发中心形成和高亲和力抗体的产生中起着至关重要的作用。研究表明,Tfh细胞分化是一个多步骤过程。然而,目前仍不完全清楚一部分活化的CD4 T细胞如何在反应早期开始表达CXCR5,以及在这之后不久,一些CXCR5前体Tfh(pre-Tfh)细胞如何进入B细胞滤泡并进一步分化为生发中心Tfh(GC-Tfh)细胞,而其他细胞则有不同的命运。在这篇小型综述中,我们总结了围绕Tfh细胞分化这两个方面的最新进展,并讨论了相关的长期问题,包括Tfh记忆。