{
  "id": 12194465,
  "title": "Human CD1c-autoreactive T-cells recognise <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>-infected antigen-presenting cells and display cytotoxic effector programmes",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/human-cd1c-autoreactive-t-cells-recognise-i-mycobacterium",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "eLife",
    "slug": "elife",
    "url": "https://elifesciences.org/articles/110341"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Tuberculosis, a leading cause of death from infection worldwide, is primarily caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Despite extensive research, the role of non-classical T-cell pathways in human immunity remains unclear. CD1c-autoreactive T-cells, which recognize self-lipids presented by the antigen-presenting molecule CD1c, are common in human blood, but their role during infection is still unknown.\n\nTo better understand the function of CD1c-autoreactive T-cells during infection, researchers investigated how these T-cells interact with antigen-presenting cells (APCs) infected with Mtb. Using engineered human APC systems and single-cell transcriptomic profiling, the team examined the ex vivo phenotypic landscape of these T-cells.\n\nThe study found that CD1c is present within human TB granulomas and that Mtb down-regulates CD1c expression on infected APCs, suggesting an immune evasion strategy employed by the pathogen. CD1c-autoreactive T-cells responded more strongly to Mtb-infected CD1c+ APCs than to uninfected cells, displaying enhanced activation, cytotoxicity, and diverse cytokine secretion. This enhanced response was attributed to the CD1c-dependent recognition of infected APCs.\n\nIn vitro experiments showed that these T-cells can reduce the relative Mtb burden in infected phagocytes. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed cytotoxic effector-memory programs and the expression of antimicrobial molecules in CD1c-autoreactive T-cells, providing a mechanistic basis for their enhanced response. The findings suggest that CD1c-restricted T-cells play a significant role in the body's lipid-directed immunity against TB.",
  "summary": "Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains the leading cause of death from infection globally yet the contribution of non-classical T-cell pathways to human immunity remains poorly defined. CD1c-autoreactive T-cells, which recognise self-lipids presented by the antigen-presenting molecule CD1c, are frequent in human blood but their role during infection remains…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}