• Sebastian Zundler, Emily Becker, Marta Spocinska, Monique Slawik, Loreto Parga-Vidal, Regina Stark, Maximilian Wiendl, Raja Atreya, Timo Rath, Moritz Leppkes, Kai Hildner, Rocío López-Posadas, Sören Lukassen, Arif B Ekici, Clemens Neufert, Imke Atreya, Klaas P J M van Gisbergen, and Markus F Neurath.
• Department of Medicine 1, Kussmaul Campus for Medical Research and Translational Research Center, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
• Nat. Immunol. 2019 Mar 1; 20 (3): 288-300.

AbstractAlthough tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM cells) have been shown to regulate host protection in infectious disorders, their function in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains to be investigated. Here we characterized TRM cells in human IBD and in experimental models of intestinal inflammation. Pro-inflammatory TRM cells accumulated in the mucosa of patients with IBD, and the presence of CD4+CD69+CD103+ TRM cells was predictive of the development of flares. In vivo, functional impairment of TRM cells in mice with double knockout of the TRM-cell-associated transcription factors Hobit and Blimp-1 attenuated disease in several models of colitis, due to impaired cross-talk between the adaptive and innate immune system. Finally, depletion of TRM cells led to a suppression of colitis activity. Together, our data demonstrate a central role for TRM cells in the pathogenesis of chronic intestinal inflammation and suggest that these cells could be targets for future therapeutic approaches in IBD.

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