Prof.Doron Merkler, Dept. of Pathology and Immunology, University of Geneva „Trapped in the central nervous system: What have T cells lost there?"

Epidemiological studies associate viral infections during childhood with the risk of developing autoimmune disease during adulthood. However, the mechanistic link between these events remains elusive. We have recently reported that transient viral infection of the brain in early life, but not at a later age, precipitates brain autoimmune disease elicited by adoptive transfer of myelin-specific CD4+ T cells at sites of previous infection in adult mice. Virus-induced long-lived brain tissue-resident T cells generated in early life can promote a durable fertile field in the brain that serves as a gateway for circulating autoreactive T cells into the tissue.