Memory T cells are usually considered to be a feature of a successful immune response
against a foreign antigen, and such cells can mediate potent immunity. However, in mice,
alternative pathways have been described, through which naïve T cells can acquire the
characteristics and functions of memory T cells without encountering specific foreign antigen
or the typical signals required for conventional T cell differentiation. Such cells reflect a
response to the internal rather the external environment, and hence such cells are called …