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Human Peripheral CD4+ Vδ1+ γδT Cells Can Develop into αβT Cells
- Source :
- Frontiers in Immunology
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- Frontiers Media S.A., 2014.
-
Abstract
- The lifelong generation of αβT cells enables us to continuously build immunity against pathogens and malignancies despite the loss of thymic function with age. Homeostatic proliferation of post-thymic naïve and memory T cells and their transition into effector and long-lived memory cells balance the decreasing output of naïve T cells, and recent research suggests that also αβT-cell development independent from the thymus may occur. However, the sites and mechanisms of extrathymic T-cell development are not yet understood in detail. γδT cells represent a small fraction of the overall T-cell pool, and are endowed with tremendous phenotypic and functional plasticity. γδT cells that express the Vδ1 gene segment are a minor population in human peripheral blood but predominate in epithelial (and inflamed) tissues. Here, we characterize a CD4(+) peripheral Vδ1(+) γδT-cell subpopulation that expresses stem-cell and progenitor markers and is able to develop into functional αβT cells ex vivo in a simple culture system and in vivo. The route taken by this process resembles thymic T-cell development. However, it involves the re-organization of the Vδ1(+) γδTCR into the αβTCR as a consequence of TCR-γ chain downregulation and the expression of surface Vδ1(+)Vβ(+) TCR components, which we believe function as surrogate pre-TCR. This transdifferentiation process is readily detectable in vivo in inflamed tissue. Our study provides a conceptual framework for extrathymic T-cell development and opens up a new vista in immunology that requires adaptive immune responses in infection, autoimmunity, and cancer to be reconsidered.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 16643224
- Volume :
- 5
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Frontiers in Immunology
- Accession number :
- edsair.pmid.dedup....f083b400e400faa0444fa4e4d5278dd5