Inhaled Corticosteroids in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease A Two-Edged Sword

摘要

The field of immunology is constantly expanding, and although focus has slightly turned from T cell- to more B cell-oriented research, new knowledge on unconventional T cells is still garnered. One example of this is the relatively recently discovered MR1-restricted T cells designated "mucosal-associated invariant T" (MAIT) cells (1). Intriguingly, MAIT cells comprise 5 to 10% of the total pool of CD3~+ T cells in peripheral blood. As a result of development of monoclonal antibodies, the CD161~+ MAIT-cell subset has been defined as having an invariant T-cell receptor, designated TCR Vα7.2, that recognizes the MR1 molecule on antigen-presenting cells-for example, B cells.