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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Tailoring In Vivo Cytotoxicity Assays to Study Immunodominance in Tumor-specific CD8+ T Cell Responses
Published on: May 6, 2019
CD8 alpha alpha-mediated intraepithelial lymphocyte snatching of thymic leukemia MHC class Ib molecules in vitro and
Nathalie Pardigon1, Kazuyo Takeda, Bertrand Saunier
1Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Abstract:
Thymic leukemia (TL) is a MHC class Ib molecule that interacts with CD8alphaalpha homodimers. CD8alphaalpha is abundantly expressed by intraepithelial T lymphocytes (IELs) located in close proximity to TL-expressing intestinal epithelial cells. In this study, we show that CD8alphaalpha(+) IELs "snatch" TL from the plasma membrane of TL-expressing cells and express TL in its proper orientation on their own cell surface. TL snatching is enhanced by cross-linking of IEL TCRs in a phosphatidylinositol kinase-dependent manner, and results in overall alterations to the IEL cell surface detected by enhanced binding of peanut agglutinin lectin. Induction of bowel inflammation results in the presence of TL on IELs, probably via in vivo snatching, providing the initial evidence for the interaction of CD8alphaalpha IELs with intestinal cells.
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