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. 2023 Mar 31:1–11. Online ahead of print. doi: 10.1038/s41577-023-00853-1

Fig. 2. Two models of TRM cell divergence.

Fig. 2

a, Recent studies propose there is a population of ‘circulating TRM cell precursors’ that are phenotypically distinct from central memory T cells (TCM cells), effector memory T cells (TEM cells) and tissue resident memory T cells (TRM cells). The transcriptional profiles of these putative circulating TRM cell precursors resemble those of TRM cells, and the cells are thought to be destined to become TRM cells. This is in line with the model of systemic divergence. b, Other data support the theory of local divergence of TRM cells, in which TRM cells differentiate within tissues from multipotent or pluripotent effector T cells in the early stages of the immune response. These two theories should be viewed as potentially complementary, and that there may, in fact, be significant overlap between these theories in TRM cell development in vivo.