title: Peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells of pig-tailed macaques.
abstract: In humans, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells represent a small but significant population of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with a high degree of variability. In this study, pursuant to our goal of identifying an appropriate non-human primate model suitable for pre-clinical glycolipid testing, we evaluated the percentage and function of iNKT cells in the peripheral blood of pig-tailed macaques. First, using a human CD1d-tetramer loaded with α-GalCer (α-GalCer-CD1d-Tet), we found that α-GalCer-CD1d-Tet(+) CD3(+) iNKT cells make up 0.13% to 0.4% of pig-tailed macaque PBMCs, which are comparable to the percentage of iNKT cells found in human PBMCs. Second, we observed that a large proportion of Vα24(+)CD3(+) cells are α-GalCer-CD1d-Tet(+)CD3(+) iNKT cells, which primarily consist of either the CD4(+) or CD8(+) subpopulation. Third, we found that pig-tailed macaque iNKT cells produce IFN-γ in response to α-GalCer, as shown by ELISpot assay and intracellular cytokine staining (ICCS), as well as TNF-α, as shown by ICCS, indicating that these iNKT cells are fully functional. Interestingly, the majority of pig-tailed macaque iNKT cells that secrete IFN-γ are CD8(+)iNKT cells. Based on these findings, we conclude that the pig-tailed macaques exhibit potential as a non-human animal model for the pre-clinical testing of iNKT-stimulating glycolipids.
authors.affiliation: HIV and Malaria Vaccine Program, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, Affiliate of the Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Xiangming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Polacino
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garcia-Navarro
authors.forename: Shiu-Lok
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Moriya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuji
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D008251:Macaca / Q000276:immunology*; D055611:Natural Killer T-Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma