γδ T cells take on CMV

Latent cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection can reactivate in patients undergoing immunosuppression after organ transplant. But γδ T cells escape immunosuppression and are free to take control of the infection, suggest Halary and colleagues on page 1567. These CMV-reactive γδ T cells also recognized intestinal epithelial tumor cell lines, suggesting that CMV-infected cells and tumor cells may share a common, as yet undefined, γδ T cell antigen.

γδ T cells are a heterogeneous population of T cells that express a restricted T cell receptor repertoire and, unlike conventional αβ T cells, can be activated in a major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-independent fashion by self-antigens. Most subsets of γδ T cells reside in epithelial tissues such as the skin and intestine. Studies in mice have suggested...