Virus-specific CD8⁺ T cells that differentiate in the context of resolved versus persisting infections exhibit divergent phenotypic and functional characteristics, which suggests that their differentiation trajectories are governed by distinct cellular dynamics, developmental pathways and molecular mechanisms. For acute infection, it is long known that antigen-specific T cell populations contain terminally differentiated effector T cells, known as short-lived effector T cells, and proliferation-competent and differentiation-competent memory precursor T cells. More recently, it was identified that a similar functional segregation occurs in chronic infections. A failure to generate proliferation-competent precursor cells in chronic infections and tumors results in the collapse of the T cell response. Thus, these precursor cells are major therapeutic and prophylactic targets of immune interventions. These observations suggest substantial commonality between T cell responses in acute and chronic infections but there are also critical differences. We are therefore reviewing the common features and peculiarities of precursor cells in acute infections, different types of persistent infection and cancer.

病毒特异性 CD8 ⁺在解决感染与持续感染的情况下分化的 T 细胞表现出不同的表型和功能特征，这表明它们的分化轨迹受不同的细胞动力学、发育途径和分子机制的控制。对于急性感染，众所周知，抗原特异性 T 细胞群包含终末分化的效应 T 细胞，称为短寿命效应 T 细胞，以及具有增殖能力和分化能力的记忆前体 T 细胞。最近，发现类似的功能分离发生在慢性感染中。在慢性感染和肿瘤中不能产生具有增殖能力的前体细胞会导致 T 细胞反应的崩溃。因此，这些前体细胞是免疫干预的主要治疗和预防目标。这些观察结果表明 T 细胞在急性和慢性感染中的反应有很大的共同点，但也存在重大差异。因此，我们正在审查前体细胞在急性感染、不同类型的持续感染和癌症中的共同特征和特性。