Inherited maternal memory T cells protect offspring from respiratory viral infection through disease tolerance

Maternal memory T cells are necessary and sufficient to protect offspring from lethal respiratory viral infection, reducing lung inflammation and damage while leaving viral burdens unchanged.

• Why it matters: Maternal immune transfer protects early life, but the specific protective factors beyond antibodies are unclear, limiting how maternal vaccination can be optimized.
• What they did: The study used antigen-specific maternal memory T cell transfer to test sufficiency and necessity, showing protection was independent of maternal antibodies and offspring T cell responses and required maternal T cell–derived IL-10.
• The result: Protective transfer lowered offspring inflammatory responses and lung tissue damage without changing viral burdens, and maternal vaccination also protected offspring in a T cell-dependent manner.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.