CD1-restricted T cells at the crossroad of innate and adaptive immunity

Lipid-specific t cells comprise a group of t cells that recognize lipids bound to the mhc class i-like cd1 molecules. there are four isoforms of cd1 that are expressed at the surface of antigen presenting cells and therefore capable of presenting lipid antigens: cd1a,cd1b,cd1c,and cd1d. each one of these isoforms has distinct structural features and cellular localizations,which promotes binding to a broad range of different types of lipids. lipid antigens originate from either self-tissues or foreign sources,such as bacteria,fungus,or plants and their recognition by cd1-restricted t cells has important implications in infection but also in cancer and autoimmunity. in this review,we describe the characteristics of cd1 molecules and cd1-restricted lipid-specific t cells,highlighting the innate-like and adaptive-like features of different cd1-restricted t cell subtypes. © 2016 catia s. pereira and m. fatima macedo.