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Thymic maturation determines gammadelta T cell function, but not their antigen specificities

Kirk D C Jensen1, Yueh-Hsiu Chien

  • 1The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Beckman B255, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Current Opinion in Immunology
|March 27, 2009
PubMed

gammadelta T cells contribute uniquely to host immune defense, but how they do so remains unclear. Recent work suggests that thymic selection does little to constrain gammadelta T cell antigen specificities, but instead determines their effector fate. When triggered through the T cell receptor, ligand-experienced cells make IFNgamma, whereas ligand-naïve gammadelta T cells produce IL-17, a major initiator of inflammation. These advances warrant a fresh look at how gammadelta T cells may function in the immune system.

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