Most T cells only work in the person who made them. Your T cells fight threats by responding to molecular fragments that belong to a pathogen—but only when these molecules are bound with markers that come from your own tissues. Your influenza-fighting T cells can’t help your neighbor, and vice versa.
“However, we all have T cells that do not obey these rules,” says LJI Professor and President Emeritus Mitchell Kronenberg, Ph.D. “One of these cell types is mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells.”
Now Kronenberg and his LJI colleagues have uncovered another MAIT cell superpower: MAIT cells can recognize the same markers whether they come from humans or mice. Kronenberg calls this finding “astounding.” “Humans diverged from mice in evolution 60 million years ago,” he says.
This new research, published in Science Immunology, sheds light on the genes and nutrients that give MAIT cells their fighting power. The findings are an important step toward one day harnessing these cells to treat infectious diseases and improve cancer immunotherapies.