Inflammation alone evokes the response of a TCR-invariant mouse gamma delta T cell subset.
Whether gamma delta T lymphocytes respond to microbial Ags or to inducible host Ags remains a matter of controversy. Using several different disease models and mouse strains, we and others have seen that V gamma 6/V delta 1 gamma delta T cells preferentially increase among the gamma delta T cells infiltrating inflamed tissues. However, it was not clear whether bacteria are necessary to bring about this response. Therefore, we have reexamined this question using a disease model in which inflammation is induced by a purely autoimmune process involving no bacteria, bacterial products, or other foreign material: testicular cell-induced autoimmune orchitis. Using this model we found that gamma delta T cells were still plentiful among the infiltrating T lymphocytes, being 9- to 10-fold more prevalent than in spleen, and that V gamma 6/V delta 1+ cells again represented the predominant gamma delta T cell type. This finding shows that the response of the V gamma 6/V delta 1+ subset does not, in fact, depend upon the presence of bacteria or bacterial products. The stimulus triggering the response of the V gamma 6/V delta 1 gamma delta T cells appears to be neither foreign nor organ-specific in origin, but instead consists of a self-derived host Ag or signal induced during the inflammatory process.
Mukasa
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A
National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
Born
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WK
O'Brien
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RL
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000276:immunology; D016694:Gene Rearrangement, delta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor / Q000276:immunology; D015334:Gene Rearrangement, gamma-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor / Q000276:immunology; D006825:Hybridomas; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009920:Orchitis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013737:Testis / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology
D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta