The gene expression profile of phosphoantigen-specific human γδ T lymphocytes is a blend of αβ T-cell and NK-cell signatures
✍ Scribed by Fréderic Pont; Julien Familiades; Sébastien Déjean; Séverine Fruchon; Delphine Cendron; Mary Poupot; Rémy Poupot; Fatima L'Faqihi-Olive; Nais Prade; Bernard Ycart; Jean-Jacques Fournié
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2011
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 425 KB
- Volume
- 42
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0014-2980
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Global transcriptional technologies have revolutionised the study of lymphoid cell populations, but human γδ T lymphocytes specific for phosphoantigens remain far less deeply characterised by these methods despite the great therapeutic potential of these cells. Here we analyse the transcriptome of circulating TCRVγ^+^ γδ T cells isolated from healthy individuals, and their relation with those from other lymphoid cell subsets. We report that the gene signature of phosphoantigen‐specific TCRVγ^+^ γδ T cells is a hybrid of those from αβ T and NK cells, with more ‘NK‐cell’ genes than αβ T cells have and more ‘T‐cell’ genes than NK cells. The expression profile of TCRVγ^+^ γδ T cells stimulated with phosphoantigen recapitulates their immediate physiological functions: Th1 cytokine, chemokine and cytotoxic activities reflect their high mitotic activity at later time points and do not indicate antigen‐presenting functions. Finally, such hallmarks make the transcriptome of γδ T cells, whether resting or clonally expanding, clearly distinctive from that of NK/T or peripheral T‐cell lymphomas of the γδ subtype.