HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Imhof, B. A. Articles by Vainio, O. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Imhof, B. A. Articles by Vainio, O.

Intestinal CD8 and CD8ß Intraepithelial Lymphocytes Are Thymus Derived and Exhibit Subtle Differences in TCRß Repertoires¹

Beat A. Imhof^2,*, Dominique Dunon^2,, David Courtois, Marko Luhtala and Olli Vainio

^* Department of Pathology, Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland; Unité Mixte de Recherche 7622, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France; and Department of Medical Microbiology, Turku University, Turku, Finland

Intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) of the small intestine are anatomically positioned to be in the first line of cellular defense against enteric pathogens. Therefore, determining the origin of these cells has important implications for the mechanisms of T cell maturation and repertoire selection. Recent evidence suggests that murine CD8 intestinal IELs (iIELs) can mature and undergo selection in the absence of a thymus. We analyzed IEL origin by cell transfer, using two congenic chicken strains. Embryonic day 14 and adult thymocytes did not contain any detectable CD8 T cells. However, when TCR⁺ thymocytes were injected into congenic animals, they migrated to the gut and developed into CD8 iIELs, while TCR^- T cell progenitors did not. The TCR Vß1 repertoire of CD8⁺ TCR Vß1⁺ iIELs contained only part of the TCR Vß1 repertoire of total iIELs, and it exhibited no new members compared with CD8⁺ T cells in the thymus. This indicated that these T cells emigrated from the thymus at an early stage in their developmental process. In conclusion, we show that while CD8 iIELs originate in the thymus, T cells acquire the expression of CD8 homodimers in the gut microenvironment.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				X. Tang, I. Maricic, and V. Kumar Anti-TCR Antibody Treatment Activates a Novel Population of Nonintestinal CD8{alpha}{alpha}+TCR{alpha}beta+ Regulatory T Cells and Prevents Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis J. Immunol., May 15, 2007; 178(10): 6043 - 6050. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Konno, K. Okada, K. Mizuno, M. Nishida, S. Nagaoki, T. Toma, T. Uehara, K. Ohta, Y. Kasahara, H. Seki, et al. CD8alpha alpha memory effector T cells descend directly from clonally expanded CD8alpha +beta high TCRalpha beta T cells in vivo Blood, December 1, 2002; 100(12): 4090 - 4097. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]