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Editorial
. 2021 Mar 9:12:643989.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.643989. eCollection 2021.

Editorial: Immune Responses to Persistent or Recurrent Antigens: Implications for Immunological Memory and Immunotherapy

Stefano Caserta  1 , Alejandra Pera  2   3
Affiliations
Editorial

Editorial: Immune Responses to Persistent or Recurrent Antigens: Implications for Immunological Memory and Immunotherapy

Stefano Caserta et al. Front Immunol. .
No abstract available

Keywords: COVID-19; HIV; cancer; immunological memory; immunosenescence; immunotherapy; persistent antigens; sepsis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunological memory during life. After birth, pathogen-derived antigens (Ags) prime adaptive immunity cells from naive precursors (pink shadowed area), eventually leading to the formation of immunological memory (blue shadowed area), after the effector phase (green shadowed area). Memory cells protect in the long-term, however the memory repertoire is continually exposed to chronic Ag sources. For instance, chronic/recurrent inflammation and/or infection due to the presence of persistent/endemic pathogens or microbial Ag (bold red line) is likely to occur throughout life. Cancer disease can further expose adaptive cells to chronic tumor Ags. Severe infections, such as sepsis and COVID-19 are associated with immunoparalysis/exhaustion and/or loss of T cells. Ultimately, chronic/persistent stimulants can lead to a deterioration of immunity, leaving individuals more vulnerable to disease.
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  • Editorial on the Research Topic Immune Responses to Persistent or Recurrent Antigens: Implications for Immunological Memory and Immunotherapy

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