Circulating immunity protects the female reproductive tract from infection.

Anatomical positioning of memory lymphocytes within barrier tissues accelerates secondary immune responses and is thought to be essential for protection at mucosal surfaces. However, it remains unclear whether resident memory in the female reproductive tract (FRT) is required for Chlamydial immunity. Here, we describe efficient generation of tissue-resident memory CD4 T cells and memory lymphocyte clusters within the FRT after vaginal infection with Despite robust establishment of localized memory lymphocytes within the FRT, naïve mice surgically joined to immune mice, or mice with only circulating immunity following intranasal immunization, were fully capable of resisting infection via the vaginal route.