{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]],"date-time":"2026-07-28T09:05:52Z","timestamp":1785229552296,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":109,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783641600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["395236335"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["395236335"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The perinatal period represents a unique immunological window of opportunity, in which \u03b3\u03b4 T cells play a central role. New methods, including single-cell and high-resolution TCR repertoire analyses, have transformed our understanding of how \u03b3\u03b4 T cells develop, diversify, and function from fetal life into adulthood. Early \u03b3\u03b4 T cell waves display TCRs shaped by low TdT activity, biased V(D)J recombination, and favored V-J and V-D pairings that give rise to public, near germline-encoded TCRs with preprogrammed effector functions. These fetal-derived populations contribute to rapid pathogen responses and unique pathogen-driven expansions during congenital infections, revealing fundamental differences between perinatal and adult \u03b3\u03b4 T cell immunity. However, it is less clear how pre- and perinatal \u03b3\u03b4 T cells persist and influence individual immune responses later in life. This review synthesizes current insights into ontogeny, effector programming, and repertoire dynamics of \u03b3\u03b4 T cells in early life. We focus on deciphering the evident changes in the \u03b3\u03b4 T cell compartment during gestation, birth, and early life in humans.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1869398","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,10]],"date-time":"2026-07-10T05:38:58Z","timestamp":1783661938000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Perinatal \u03b3\u03b4 T cells: between invariance and diversity"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Rixa-Mareike","family":"K\u00f6hn","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Systems Immunology, Hamburg Center for Translational Immunology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf","place":["Hamburg, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Immo","family":"Prinz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Systems Immunology, Hamburg Center for Translational Immunology, University 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