Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Jul 3;8(7):e67821. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067821. Print 2013.
In vitro CD4(+) T cell differentiation systems have made important contributions to understanding the mechanisms underlying the differentiation of naive CD4(+) T cells into effector cells with distinct biological functions. Mature CD4(+) T cells expressing CD8αα homodimers are primarily found in the intestinal mucosa of men and mice, and to a lesser extent in other tissues such as peripheral blood. Although CD4(+)CD8α(+) T cells are easily identified, very little is known about their development and immunological functions. It has been reported, however, that CD4(+)CD8α(+) T cells possess regulatory properties. In this report, we present a novel in vitro differentiation system where CD4(+) T cells are stimulated to become CD4(+)CD8α(+) T cells in the presence of TGF-β, IL-7 and IFN-γ, resulting in cells with very similar features as CD4(+)CD8α(+) intraepithelial lymphocytes. This novel in vitro differentiation culture should provide a powerful and tractable tool for dissecting the differentiation and biological functions of CD4(+)CD8α(+) T cells.
体外 CD4(+)T 细胞分化系统为理解幼稚 CD4(+)T 细胞分化为具有不同生物学功能的效应细胞的机制做出了重要贡献。成熟的 CD4(+)T 细胞表达 CD8αα 同源二聚体，主要存在于男性和小鼠的肠道黏膜中，在其他组织（如外周血）中则较少。尽管 CD4(+)CD8α(+)T 细胞很容易被识别，但人们对其发育和免疫学功能知之甚少。然而，有报道称 CD4(+)CD8α(+)T 细胞具有调节特性。在本报告中，我们提出了一种新的体外分化系统，即在 TGF-β、IL-7 和 IFN-γ 的存在下刺激 CD4(+)T 细胞成为 CD4(+)CD8α(+)T 细胞，从而产生与 CD4(+)CD8α(+)上皮内淋巴细胞非常相似的细胞。这种新的体外分化培养系统应该为剖析 CD4(+)CD8α(+)T 细胞的分化和生物学功能提供一个强大而易于操作的工具。
