CD8+ T cell immunological memory of past antigen exposure can confer long-lived protection against infections or tumors. The fact that CD8+ memory T cells can have features of both naïve and effector cells has forced the field to struggle with several conceptual questions about the developmental origin of the cell and, consequently, the mechanism(s) that contribute to memory development. Here, we discuss recent conceptual advances in our understanding of memory T cell development that incorporate data describing a hybrid stem and/or effector state of differentiation. We theorize that the mechanisms involved in developing these cells could be mediated, in part, through epigenetic programs. Finally, we consider the potential therapeutic implications of inducing and/or utilizing such hybrid cells clinically.

中文翻译：

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记忆CD8 + T细胞的茎，效应子和杂交状态。

过去抗原暴露的CD8 + T细胞免疫记忆可以赋予针对感染或肿瘤的长期保护。CD8 +记忆T细胞既可以具有幼稚细胞又可以具有效应细胞的特征，这一事实已迫使该领域苦苦挣扎着一些有关细胞发育起源的概念性问题，并因此而提出了有助于记忆发育的机制。在这里，我们讨论了记忆T细胞发育的最新概念进展，这些进展结合了描述杂交茎和/或效应子分化状态的数据。我们认为，参与开发这些细胞的机制可以部分通过表观遗传程序介导。最后，我们考虑了临床上诱导和/或利用这种杂交细胞的潜在治疗意义。