The CD1d natural killer T-cell antigen presentation pathway is highly conserved between humans and rhesus macaques.
Natural killer T (NKT) cells play an important role in controlling cancers, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. Although the rhesus macaque is a useful primate model for many human diseases such as infectious and autoimmune diseases, little is known about their NKT cells. We analyzed V alpha 24TCR+ T cells from rhesus macaque peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with alpha-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer) and interleukin-2. We found that rhesus macaques possess V alpha 24TCR+ T cells, suggesting that recognition of alpha-GalCer is highly conserved between rhesus macaques and humans. The amino acid sequences of the V-J junction for the V alpha 24TCR of rhesus macaque and human NKT cells are highly conserved (93% similarity), and the CD1d alpha1-alpha2 domains of both species are highly homologous (95.6%). These findings indicate that the rhesus macaque is a useful primate model for understanding the contribution of NKT cells to the control of human diseases.
Kashiwase
Koichi
K
Department of Laboratory, Japanese Red Cross Tokyo Metropolitan Blood Center, Japan.
Kikuchi
Akiko
A
Ando
Yoshitaka
Y
Nicol
Andrew
A
Porcelli
Steven A
SA
Tokunaga
Katsushi
K
Omine
Mitsuhiro
M
Satake
Masahiro
M
Juji
Takeo
T
Nieda
Mie
M
Koezuka
Yasuhiko
Y
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000235:genetics; D018949:Antigens, CD1 / Q000235:genetics*; D055610:Antigens, CD1d; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005699:Galactosylceramides / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
D018949:Antigens, CD1; D055610:Antigens, CD1d; C526877:CD1D protein, human; D005699:Galactosylceramides; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D004247:DNA