γδT Cells Are Involved in Liver Transplant Tolerance

2009 
Abstract The role of nonconventional T cells in innate and adaptive immunity is just emerging; γδT cells play important roles in anti-tumor and anti-infectious diseases. The involvement of γδT cells in immunologic responses to hematopoietic cell transplantation remains controversial; divergent results have been reported depending on the murine strains and model systems. Whether γδT cells are involved in solid organ transplantation is understudied. We have characterized the γδT cells in mouse livers and spleens to evaluate their contributions to liver transplant tolerance posttransplantation using a murine allogeneic liver transplant model which induces spontaneous T regulatory cell (Treg)-dependent tolerance. Our studies revealed that γδT cells comprised about 20% of the population of liver nonparenchymal cells (NPCs). In naive C3H mice they were CD4, CD8, and NK1.1 negative. The percentage of γδT cells decreased in spontaneously tolerated liver grafts posttransplantation from 20% in naive C3H livers to 20% of CD4 + and 30% of CD8 + . Our results suggested that γδT cells are involved in allogeneic immune responses. Whether γδT cells function as the causal or the effector cells in allograft tolerance rejection warrants further investigation.
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