Gamma delta lymphocytes in endocrine autoimmunity: evidence of expansion in Graves' disease but not in type 1 diabetes.
Endocrine autoimmune disorders are mediated by T cell-dependent responses to organ-specific antigens, but the mechanisms initiating the process remain unknown. Lymphocytes which use the gamma delta heterodimer as T cell receptor (TCR) for antigen constitute a distinct subset of T cells whose function remains elusive. In order to investigate their possible involvement in endocrine autoimmunity we have determined the proportion of gamma delta T cells in the peripheral blood of 23 patients with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus (type-1 DM) and 30 patients with autoimmune thyrotoxicosis (Graves' disease). T lymphocyte TCR expression was assessed by fluorescence-activated flow cytometry on peripheral blood mononuclear cells using MoAbs UCHT1 (CD3), TCR delta 1 (gamma delta TCR), WT31 and beta F1 (alpha beta TCR) and both the percentage of T cells expressing gamma delta and the ratio gamma delta/alpha beta were calculated. In the diabetic patients gamma delta cells were not significantly different from the control group (7.7 +/- 54% versus 8.0 +/- 5.5% of T cells, P NS). There was no relation between the proportion of gamma delta lymphocytes and the presence of islet cell antibodies (ICA) in the sera. The Graves' patients showed a tendency towards a higher proportion of gamma delta T lymphocytes than the controls (gamma delta/alpha beta ratios: 0.095 +/- 0.047 versus 0.063 +/- 0.022, P = 0.03). In 14 Graves' patients the number of gamma delta were measured in paired samples of peripheral and intrathyroidal lymphocytes, demonstrating an expansion of gamma delta within the thyroid glands (0.21 +/- 0.3 versus 0.095 +/- 0.047, P = 0.032). Immunohistochemical studies showed that gamma delta cells were scattered among the predominant alpha beta lymphocytes infiltrating the thyroid gland and that they account for 10% of intraepithelial lymphocytes. No relation was found between the increase of gamma delta lymphocytes and any clinical features.
Roura-Mir
I C
IC
Immunology Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain.
Alcalde
L
L
Vargas
F
F
Tolosa
E
E
Obiols
G
G
Foz
M
M
Jaraquemada
D
D
Pujol-Borrell
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000276:immunology*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology
D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta