Journal
CYTOKINE & GROWTH FACTOR REVIEWS
Volume 42, Issue -, Pages 5-12Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.cytogfr.2018.02.004
Keywords
Lymphoid tissue inducer; Innate lymphoid cell; Natural killer; T helper cell; Transcriptional regulation; Cell development and differentiation; Adaptive immune system; Cell-cell interaction
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Funding
- One Hundred Talents Program of Peking University Health Science Center [BMU20160551]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31770957]
- Intramural Research Program of the NIH, NIAID
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Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) that are capable of producing effector cytokines reminiscent of CD4(+) T helper (Th) cells during infections and tissue inflammations have drawn much attention in the immunology field in recent years. Within the ILCs, the lymphoid tissue inducer (LTi) cells that play a critical role in lymphoid organogenesis were identified long before the establishment of the ILC concept. LTi cells, developed and functioning mainly at the fetal stage, and LTi-like cells, presumably generated during the adulthood, are regarded as a subset of type 3 ILCs (ILC3s) because they express the ILC3 lineage-defining transcription factor ROR gamma t, and like other ILC3s, can produce an ILC3 signature cytokine IL-22 and initiate protective immune responses against extracellular bacteria. However, LTi/LTi-like cells have a unique gene expression pattern, and they develop from a progenitor that is distinct from the progenitor of all other ILCs and the progenitor of conventional natural killer (cNK) cells. There are also several other unique features of LTi/LTi-like cells comparing to non-LTi ILC3s. In addition to their classical function in lymphoid organogenesis, LTi/LTi-like cells also have specialized functions in association with the adaptive immune system, which include their effects on T and B cell development, activation and function. In this review, we summarize these specific features of LTi/LTi-like cells and propose that these cells should be considered as a separated innate lymphoid lineage in parallel with other non-LTi ILCs and cNK cells.
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