Abstract
Innate Immunity 24(4), 2018
Dendritic cells, monocytes/macrophages, and B cells are well known as antigen-presenting cells which initiate an immune response to eliminate a pathogen after infection. Such pathogen elimination may happen directly or by antigen presentation to T cells to activate an (delayed) adaptive immune response. Of these T cells, several subsets exist, including the mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells which represent T cells with innate-like functions and play important roles in infectious diseases as well as in obesity, cancer, and diabetes. Interestingly, MAIT cells can be activated by both, an antigen presentation process (indirectly) or directly by cytokines. Thus antigen-presenting cells are highly important for MAIT cell activation and also regulation.
In this highly important and interesting review, Shey et al. comprehensively summarize the current state of knowledge on the role of antigen-presenting cells in MAIT cell activation, and of MAIT activation and function in infectious diseases and cancer.