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Isolation and Ex Vivo Culture of Vδ1+CD4+γδ T Cells, an Extrathymic αβT-cell Progenitor
Published on: December 7, 2015
{gamma}{delta} T cell homeostasis is established in competition with {alpha}{beta} T cells and NK cells
Jena D French1, Christina L Roark, Willi K Born
1Integrated Department of Immunology, National Jewish Medical and Research Center and University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 1400 Jackson Street, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
Abstract:
gammadelta T cells are a diverse population of lymphocytes that play an important role in immune regulation. The size of the gammadelta T cell pool is tightly regulated, comprising only 1-10% of total lymphoid T cells in mice and humans. We examined the homeostatic regulation of gammadelta T cells using a model of lymphopenia-induced homeostatic expansion. We found that IL-15 and, to a lesser extent, IL-7 play an important role in lymphoid gammadelta T cell homeostasis. Moreover, gammadelta T cell homeostatic expansion was limited not only by gammadelta T cells themselves but also by natural killer cells and alphabeta T cells. Our results suggest that CD8(+) alphabeta T cells are the most potent inhibitors of gammadelta T cell homeostasis and exert their effect by competing for IL-15.
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