Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are often recurrent. The organism does not always establish an effective line of defense that protects from reinfection. The key lies in two reservoirs of bacteria and how tissue-resident memory T cells (TRMs) trigger the immune response. A recent paper from the Pasteur Institute in France describes how these cells mediate immunity to defeat reinfection.
Researchers led by Doron Merkler from the University of Geneva have shown how post local infection, a fraction of resting CD8+ tissue resident memory cells cross-reacted with antigens of the CNS to become subsequently activated and drive immunopathological responses in the CNS.
