Jinfang Zhu and William Paul review the current state of knowledge regarding the differentiation of CD4 T cell subsets, in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the American Society for Hematology (ASH). Access to the full text is free. This issue of Blood also contains a complementary and similarly detailed review addressing the development and function of B cells by Tucker LeBien and Thomas Tedder.
Blood, 1 September 2008, Vol. 112, No. 5, pp. 1557-1569.
ASH 50TH ANNIVERSARY REVIEW
CD4 T cells: fates, functions, and faults
Jinfang Zhu1, and William E. Paul1
1 Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
Abstract
In 1986, Mosmann and Coffman identified 2 subsets of activated CD4 T cells, Th1 and Th2 cells, which differed from each other in their pattern of cytokine production and their functions. Our understanding of the importance of the distinct differentiated forms of CD4 T cells and of the mechanisms through which they achieve their differentiated state has greatly expanded over the past 2 decades. Today at least 4 distinct CD4 T-cell subsets have been shown to exist, Th1, Th2, Th17, and iTreg cells. Here we summarize much of what is known about the 4 subsets, including the history of their discovery, their unique cytokine products and related functions, their distinctive expression of cell surface receptors and their characteristic transcription factors, the regulation of their fate determination, and the consequences of their abnormal activation.
Blood, 1 September 2008, Vol. 112, No. 5, pp. 1570-1580.
ASH 50TH ANNIVERSARY REVIEW
B lymphocytes: how they develop and function
Tucker W. LeBien1, and Thomas F. Tedder2
1 Department of Laboratory Medicine/Pathology, University of Minnesota Cancer Center, Minneapolis; and 2 Department of Immunology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
Abstract
The discovery that lymphocyte subpopulations participate in distinct components of the immune response focused attention onto the origins and function of lymphocytes more than 40 years ago. Studies in the 1960s and 1970s demonstrated that B and T lymphocytes were responsible primarily for the basic functions of antibody production and cell-mediated immune responses, respectively. The decades that followed have witnessed a continuum of unfolding complexities in B-cell development, subsets, and function that could not have been predicted. Some of the landmark discoveries that led to our current understanding of B lymphocytes as the source of protective innate and adaptive antibodies are highlighted in this essay. The phenotypic and functional diversity of B lymphocytes, their regulatory roles independent of antibody production, and the molecular events that make this lineage unique are also considered. Finally, perturbations in B-cell development that give rise to certain types of congenital immunodeficiency, leukemia/lymphoma, and autoimmune disease are discussed in the context of normal B-cell development and selection. Despite the significant advances that have been made at the cellular and molecular levels, there is much more to learn, and cross-disciplinary studies in hematology and immunology will continue to pave the way for new discoveries.
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