International Immunology, Vol 9, 161-167, Copyright © 1997 by Oxford University Press
E Rakasz, M Hagen, M Sandor and RG Lynch
While little is known about their activation requirements and function, the
intraepithelial T cells of the murine vagina express TCR complexes in which
the antigen recognition components and the signaling components have
unusual features. These vaginal T cells express an invariant V gamma 4/V
delta 1 TCR and appear to be the only intraepithelial gamma delta T cells
that exclusively use FcR gamma chains in their TCR complex. To further
characterize the vaginal gamma delta T cells we isolated them from normal
mice and from mice injected systemically with an activation-inducing dose
of anti-TCR mAb. The isolated gamma delta T cells were examined by flow
cytometry for their surface expression of a panel of adhesion, proteins,
activation antigens and cellular interaction molecules (CD44, CD62L,
CD45RB, LFA- 1, CD2 and CD28). The patterns of expression observed indicate
that the vaginal gamma delta T cells of normal mice show the phenotype of
effector T cells. The adhesion/co-stimulatory molecules CD28 and CD2 were
not detected on vaginal gamma delta T cells, an interesting finding since
the absence of CD2 from other T cells has been suggested to result in
anergy. However, vaginal gamma delta T cells are responsive to TCR-mediated
signals since injection of normal mice with pan-anti-TCR antibody or
stimulating anti-gamma delta TCR antibody resulted in an increase in cell
number and increased expression of transferrin and IL-2 receptors. These
results indicate that vaginal gamma delta T cells might utilize other
co-stimulatory molecules, if any, in connection with TCR-induced activation
and differentiation. While the physiological function of vaginal gamma
delta T cells remains unknown, the expression of an invariant V gamma 4/V
delta 1 TCR, their exclusive use of gamma chain homodimers in their TCR,
and the absence of CD2 and CD28 co-stimulatory molecules are a novel
combination of properties that suggests specialized functional properties.
Although vaginal gamma delta T cells share some features in common with
gamma delta T cells that reside in other epithelial tissues, such as skin
and intestine, the present studies provide additional evidence that vaginal
gamma delta T cells are a highly specialized and distinct T cell
population.
ARTICLES
Gamma delta T cells of the murine vagina: T cell response in vivo in the absence of the expression of CD2 and CD28 molecules
Department of Pathology, University of Iowa, College of Medicine, Iowa City 52242, USA.
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