Temporal and Epigenetic Control of Plasticity and Fate Decision during CD8⁺ T-Cell Memory Differentiation

Immunological memory is a fundamental hallmark of the adaptive immune responses and one of the most relevant aspects of protective immunity. Our understanding of the processes of memory T-cell differentiation and maintenance of long-term immunity is continuously evolving, and recent advances highlight new regulatory networks and chromatin dynamic changes contributing to maintain T-cell identity and impeding the reprogramming of specific T-cell states. Here, the current understanding of the mechanisms that generate the diversity and the heterogeneity of CD8⁺ T-cell subsets will be discussed, focusing on the temporal and epigenetic mechanisms orchestrating the establishment and maintenance of distinct states of T-cell fate determination and functional commitment.