Natural killer T lymphocytes integrate innate sensory information & relay context to effector immune responses

It is now appreciated that a group of lymphoid lineage cells, collectively called innate-like effector lymphocytes, have evolved to integrate information relayed by the innate sensory immune system about the state of the local tissue environment and to pass on this context to downstream effector innate and adaptive immune responses. Thereby, innate functions engrained into such innate-like lymphoid lineage cells during development can control the quality and magnitude of an immune response to a tissue altering pathogen and facilitate the formation of memory engrams within the immune system. These goals are accomplished by the innate lymphoid cells that lack antigen specific receptors, gamma/delta T cell receptor (TCR)-expressing T cells, and several alpha/beta TCR-expressing T cell subsets—such as natural killer T cells, mucosal-associated invariant T cells, et cetera. Whilst we briefly consider the commonalities in the origins and functions of these diverse lymphoid subsets to provide context, the primary topic of this review is to discuss how the semi-invariant natural killer T cells got this way in evolution through lineage commitment and onward ontogeny. What emerges from this discourse is the question: Has a ‘limbic immune system’ emerged (screaming quietly in plain sight!) out of what has been dubbed ‘in-betweeners’?