Expression and function of CD8 alpha/beta chains on rat and human mast cells
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Updated: Aug 26, 2026

Analyzing the Functions of Mast Cells In Vivo Using 'Mast Cell Knock-in' Mice
Published on: May 27, 2015
Mi-Sun Kim1, Sung-Hoon Kim, Hye-Jung Lee
1Department of Pharmacology, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Hoegi-Dong, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Unlabelled:
The expression and functional role of CD8 glycoprotein, a marker of cytotoxic/suppressor T lymphocytes and NK cells, were not studied on freshly isolated connective tissue type rat peritoneal mast cells, a rat mucosal type mast cell line (RBL 2H3), or human mast cell line (HMC-1). We used the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis, immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results:
RT-PCR and Western blot analysis identified the presence of CD8 alpha/beta chains on the mast cells, and immunohistochemistry confirmed CD8alpha expression on rat or human mast cells. Functional studies demonstrated that stimulation of CD8 alpha/beta chains on rat mast cells induced the secretion of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), which are regarded as important mediators during infection. However, co-stimulation with stem cell factor had no effect on CD8-induced mediator secretion. Our findings demonstrate novel biological roles of CD8 molecules in mast cells.
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