Visualizing T cell migration in vivo

Abstract

Ever since the realization that T lymphocytes are key players in the defense against pathogens and tumors, a major aim of immunologists has been to understand the relationship between the functional and migratory properties of antigen-specific T cells. The current paradigm proposes that T cells follow organ-specific trafficking pathways to exit from blood into the extravascular compartment. T cell homing is regulated at the level of adhesion molecules and chemokine receptors, whose expression is linked tightly to the differentiation state of the cell. Naïve T lymphocytes follow relatively uniform recirculation routes through secondary lymphoid organs, the molecular cues of which are fairly well understood. As effector and memory T cells must be capable of reaching virtually any site in the body, their migratory behavior is considerably more heterogeneous. During the past few years, innovative approaches for tracking T cells in vivo have emerged. Here, we review recent technical developments in experimental methods for the visualization of T cells both at the population and single cell level in vivo, and discuss what these methods have taught us about T cell trafficking.