Homeostatic regulation of intestinal epithelia by intraepithelial gamma delta T cells.

Abstract

Although T cells bearing yv T-cell receptors have long been known to be present in the epithelial lining of many organs, their specificity and function remain elusive. In the present study, we examined the intestinal epithelia of T-cell-receptor mutant mice, which were deficient in either yS T cells or ca3 T cells, and of normal littermates. The absence of yS T cells was associated with a reduction in epithelial cell turnover and a downregulation of the expression of major histocompatibility complex class II molecules. No such effects were observed in a38 T-cell-deficient mice. These findings indicate that intraepithelial yeS T cells regulate the generation and differentiation of intestinal epithelial cells.

Protection of the intestinal mucosa by intraepithelial γδ T cells

“…Mononuclear cells were isolated by Percoll discontinuous-gradient centrifugation from the large intestine of mice essentially as described (4). ␥␦ IEL and ␣␤ IEL were sorted by flow cytometry, and the resulting cell populations were more than 98% homogeneous (8).…”

Regulation of adult intestinal epithelial stem cell development by thyroid hormone during Xenopus laevis metamorphosis

“…It is generally known that the microenvironment around the stem cells known as the "niche" plays key roles in this epithelial cell-renewal (Potten et al, 1997;Mills and Gordon, 2001). Recently, several types of cells including subepithelial myofibroblasts (Powell et al, 1999), endothelial cells (Paris et al, 2001), intraepithelial lymphocytes (Komano et al, 1995), and enteric neurons (Bjerknes and Cheng, 2001) have been proposed as "niche players," which affect the stem cells and their descendants. However, only fragmentary information is available on their functions at the molecular level.…”

Role of Gut Cryptopatches in Early Extrathymic Maturation of Intestinal Intraepithelial T Cells

“…IL-2R ␤-chain-deficient (2R␤ Ϫ/Ϫ ) mice (37) that had been backcrossed seven times to B6 mice were a generous gift from Dr. H. Suzuki (Nagoya University School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan), and heterozygous WT female mice carrying a truncated mutation of the CR␥ (CR␥ Ϫ/X mice) (31) that had been backcrossed more than 20 times to B6 mice were kindly provided by Dr. K. Sugamura (Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan). Female CR␥ Ϫ/X mice were intercrossed with male B6 mice, and male CR␥ Ϫ/Y offspring were typed by PCR analysis of tail DNA with a set of primers to the neomysin-resistant gene described elsewhere (38). The CR␥ Ϫ/X mice were also crossed with athymic B/c mice and their heterozygous CR␥ Ϫ/X progeny were backcrossed to athymic B/c mice to obtain euthymic (nu/ϩ) WT CR␥ ϩ/Y , athymic (nu/nu) nude CR␥ ϩ/Y , euthymic (nu/ϩ) mutant CR␥ Ϫ/Y , and athymic (nu/nu) mutant CR␥ Ϫ/Y littermates.…”