1. KIR + CD8 + T cells suppress pathogenic T cells and are active in autoimmune diseases and COVID-19.
- Author
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Li J, Zaslavsky M, Su Y, Guo J, Sikora MJ, van Unen V, Christophersen A, Chiou SH, Chen L, Li J, Ji X, Wilhelmy J, McSween AM, Palanski BA, Mallajosyula VVA, Bracey NA, Dhondalay GKR, Bhamidipati K, Pai J, Kipp LB, Dunn JE, Hauser SL, Oksenberg JR, Satpathy AT, Robinson WH, Dekker CL, Steinmetz LM, Khosla C, Utz PJ, Sollid LM, Chien YH, Heath JR, Fernandez-Becker NQ, Nadeau KC, Saligrama N, and Davis MM
- Subjects
- Animals, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, Humans, Mice, Receptors, KIR, T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory, Autoimmune Diseases, COVID-19
- Abstract
In this work, we find that CD8
+ T cells expressing inhibitory killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are the human equivalent of Ly49+ CD8+ regulatory T cells in mice and are increased in the blood and inflamed tissues of patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases. Moreover, these CD8+ T cells efficiently eliminated pathogenic gliadin-specific CD4+ T cells from the leukocytes of celiac disease patients in vitro. We also find elevated levels of KIR+ CD8+ T cells, but not CD4+ regulatory T cells, in COVID-19 patients, correlating with disease severity and vasculitis. Selective ablation of Ly49+ CD8+ T cells in virus-infected mice led to autoimmunity after infection. Our results indicate that in both species, these regulatory CD8+ T cells act specifically to suppress pathogenic T cells in autoimmune and infectious diseases.- Published
- 2022
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