Phenotypes and invariant alpha beta TCR expression of peripheral V alpha 14+ NK T cells.
A novel subset of peripheral T cells, peripheral NK T cells, is found to be a major population comprising 5% of splenic T and 40% of bone marrow T cells. The majority of peripheral NK T cells are characterized by the expression of an invariant TCR-alpha encoded by V alpha 14/J alpha 281 with a one nucleotide N region. Moreover, a specific reduction of V alpha 14+ NK T cells has been demonstrated to be tightly associated with various autoimmune diseases, indicating their decisive role in autoimmune disease development. In this study, we investigated the phenotypes of peripheral V alpha 14+ NK T cells and their TCR-beta repertoire. Peripheral V alpha 14+ NK T cells, comprise two populations, i.e., small and large sized cells, at an equal frequency, belonged to the CD4- CD8- fraction, and are heat stable antigen(bright), macrophage-1bright, B220bright, CD45RBdim, and Mel-14dim, but CD5-, distinct from thymic NK T cells. TCR-beta analysis clearly showed that peripheral V alpha 14+ NK T cells utilized two to three dominant invariant TCR-beta, such as V beta 8.2 D beta J beta 2.5/V beta 7 D beta J beta 2.1 in the spleen and liver, V beta 8.2 D beta J beta 2.5/V beta 8.3 D beta J beta 2.2/V beta 7 D beta J beta 2.6 in the bone marrow, and V beta 7 D beta J beta 2.1/V beta 3 D beta J beta 1.2 in intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes. Judging from the unusual surface phenotypes, such as heat stable antigen, macrophage-1, B220, CD45RBdim, and Mel-14dim, which are known to be T cell activation markers, peripheral V alpha 14+ NK T cells may always be activated under physiologic conditions, resulting in the oligoclonal expansion of V alpha 14+ NK T cells with different invariant TCR-beta in different peripheral organs. The unique features of V alpha 14+ NK T cells are discussed.
Masuda
K
K
Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan.
Makino
Y
Y
Cui
J
J
Ito
T
T
Tokuhisa
T
T
Takahama
Y
Y
Koseki
H
H
Tsuchida
K
K
Koike
T
T
Moriya
H
H
Amano
M
M
Taniguchi
M
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D048429:Cell Size / Q000276:immunology; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000276:immunology; D010641:Phenotype; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta