title: Human gammadelta T cells: a nonredundant system in the immune-surveillance against cancer.
abstract: Down-regulation of expression of MHC alleles, as well as tumor-specific antigens, is observed frequently during tumor progression, resulting in an impairment of MHC-restricted, alphabeta-T-cell-mediated, tumor-specific immunity. Given the unique set of antigens recognized and the lack of requirement for classical antigen-presenting molecules, gammadelta T cells might, therefore, represent a nonredundant system in anticancer surveillance, as proposed for the immune response against pathogens. Evidence that gammadelta and alphabeta T cells make distinct contributions to anticancer surveillance has been provided recently in mice. Here, we discuss the potential role played by resident Vdelta1(+) and circulating Vdelta2(+) T cells in the defense against solid tumors and hematological malignancies.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Dept of Internal Medicine, H. San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, I-20132, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferrarini
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ferrero
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dagna
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poggi
authors.forename: Maria Raffaella
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Zocchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007157:Immunologic Surveillance; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000276:immunology; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine