REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. T Cell Biology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1629466
This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series in the Role of CD1- and MR1-restricted T cells in Immunity and Disease: Volume IIIView all 3 articles
CD1-restricted T cells: Are unconventional allies the key to future TB vaccines?
Provisionally accepted
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
CD1-restricted T cells constitute an unconventional arm of immunity that recognises lipid antigens, a feature particularly pertinent to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), a pathogen with a lipid-rich cell wall. Unlike classical MHC-restricted responses, CD1-mediated lipid antigen presentation includes donor-unrestricted T cell responses, offering a promising pathway for universally protective tuberculosis (TB) vaccines. This review explores the biology of CD1 isoforms, the functional diversity of CD1-restricted T cell subsets, and their roles in TB immunity. We discuss Mtb’s lipid antigens, mechanisms of CD1 trafficking and antigen presentation, immune evasion strategies, and emerging translational insights. By highlighting key knowledge gaps and future directions, we argue that harnessing CD1-restricted T cells could unlock novel vaccine strategies against the world’s leading infectious killer.
Keywords: CD1, T cells, Infection, Tuberculosis, Unconventional T cells, Lipids, TB vaccine
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 18 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mansour and Milton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Salah Mansour, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.