T cell receptor gamma/delta expression on lymphocyte populations of breast cancer patients.

The quantitative distribution and phenotype of gamma/delta lymphocytes in the peripheral blood (PBL), tumour draining lymph node (LNL) and tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from breast carcinoma patients were determined by one- and two-colour flow cytometry. The TCR-gamma/delta + cells generally expressed the T cell lineage antigen CD3. The proportions of such cells were variable but generally small from all the three sources. Phenotypic analysis revealed that the CD8 marker was consistently and predominantly observed on gamma/delta + CD3+ cells in the tumour infiltrate, whereas CD4 expression, while generally low, was noted on a significant percentage (median 10%) of LNL gamma/delta + lymphocytes. In both PBL and LNL the predominant gamma/delta cell population was CD4-8-.