Malaria is an old scourge of humankind and has a large negative impact on the economic development of affected communities. Recent success in malaria control and reduction of mortality seems to have stalled emphasizing that our current intervention tools need to be complemented by malaria vaccines. Different populations of unconventional T cells such as mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells and γδ T cells are gaining attention in the field of malaria immunology. Significant advances in our basic understanding of unconventional T cell biology in rodent malaria models have been made, however, their roles in humans during malaria are less clear. Unconventional T cells are abundant in skin, gut and liver tissues, and long-lasting expansions and functional alterations were observed upon malaria infection in malaria naïve and malaria pre-exposed volunteers. Here, we review the current understanding of involvement of unconventional T cells in anti-Plasmodium falciparum immunity and highlight potential future research avenues.

中文翻译：

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恶性疟原虫感染中的人类非常规 T 细胞。

疟疾是人类的老祸害，对受影响社区的经济发展产生了很大的负面影响。最近在疟疾控制和降低死亡率方面的成功似乎停滞不前，强调我们目前的干预工具需要得到疟疾疫苗的补充。不同群体的非常规 T 细胞，如黏膜相关不变 T (MAIT) 细胞、不变自然杀伤 T (iNKT) 细胞和γδ T 细胞在疟疾免疫学领域受到关注。我们在啮齿动物疟疾模型中对非常规 T 细胞生物学的基本理解取得了重大进展，但是，它们在疟疾期间在人类中的作用尚不清楚。非常规 T 细胞在皮肤、肠道和肝脏组织中含量丰富，并且在疟疾初治和疟疾预暴露志愿者中观察到疟疾感染后的长期扩张和功能改变。在这里，我们回顾了目前对非常规 T 细胞参与抗恶性疟原虫免疫并突出潜在的未来研究途径。