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Mucosal-associated invariant T cells and disease

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 19, pages 643–657 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are unique innate-like T cells that bridge innate and adaptive immunity. They are activated by conserved bacterial ligands derived from vitamin B biosynthesis and have important roles in defence against bacterial and viral infections. However, they can also have various deleterious and protective functions in autoimmune, inflammatory and metabolic diseases. MAIT cell involvement in a large spectrum of pathological conditions makes them attractive targets for potential therapeutic approaches.

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Fig. 1: MAIT cell activation in bacterial and viral infection.
Fig. 2: MAIT cell alterations and function in immune-mediated diseases.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to U. Rogner for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from INSERM, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Excellence consortium Inflamex (grant number ANR-11-IDEX-0005-02) and the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM grant numbers DEQ20140329520, to A.L., and DEQ20150331726, to S.L.), EFSD/JDRF/Lilly and EFSD/Lilly (to A.L. and A.T.), Fondation Francophone pour la recherche sur le Diabète (to A.L.), an Aide aux Jeunes Diabétiques fellowship to I.N., and Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR OBEMAIT, Provide and Diab1MAIT grants to A.L.).

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Nature Reviews Immunology thanks P. Klenerman and J. Sandberg for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Cochin, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) UMR8104, INSERM U1016, Paris, France

    Amine Toubal, Isabelle Nel & Agnès Lehuen

  2. Université de Paris, Paris, France

    Amine Toubal, Isabelle Nel, Sophie Lotersztajn & Agnès Lehuen

  3. Laboratoire d’Excellence Inflamex, Paris, France

    Amine Toubal, Isabelle Nel, Sophie Lotersztajn & Agnès Lehuen

  4. INSERM UMR1149, Centre de Recherche sur l’Inflammation, Paris, France

    Sophie Lotersztajn

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  1. Amine Toubal
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All authors contributed to writing the review. A.T. and I.N. contributed equally.

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Correspondence to Agnès Lehuen.

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Toubal, A., Nel, I., Lotersztajn, S. et al. Mucosal-associated invariant T cells and disease. Nat Rev Immunol 19, 643–657 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-019-0191-y

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