Immunosurveillance by gammadelta T cells: focus on the murine system

Physiologic immune responses are an integration of the activities of several lymphoid cell types that include qualitatively distinct T cell subsets. The contributions that specific T cell subsets make during infection, inflammation, and carcinogenesis is becoming increasingly clear from a variety of mouse models and, importantly, their backcrossing onto different genetic backgrounds. This review considers what we have learned in the mouse about the crucial roles played by gammadelta T cells. We consider how the cells' associations with specific tissues have revealed that T cell responses are regulated locally as well as systemically, and we discuss the implications of this for understanding and enhancing immune surveillance in the clinical setting.