Erschienen in:
01.08.2015 | Original Article
Myeloid molecular characteristics of human γδ T cells support their acquisition of tumor antigen-presenting capacity
verfasst von:
Masato Muto, Muhammad Baghdadi, Ryuji Maekawa, Haruka Wada, Ken-ichiro Seino
Erschienen in:
Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy
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Ausgabe 8/2015
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Abstract
Human T cells expressing γδ T cell receptor have a potential to show antigen-presenting cell-like phenotype and function upon their activation. However, the mechanisms that underlie the alterations in human γδ T cells remain largely unclear. In this study, we have investigated the molecular characteristics of human γδ T cells related to their acquisition of antigen-presenting capacity in comparison with activated αβ T cells. We found that activated γδ but not αβ T cells upregulated cell surface expression of a scavenger receptor, CD36, which seemed to be mediated by signaling through mitogen-activated protein kinase and/or NF-κB pathways. Confocal microscopical analysis revealed that activated γδ T cells can phagocytose protein antigens. Activated γδ T cells could induce tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells using both apoptotic and live tumor cells as antigen resources. Furthermore, we detected that C/EBPα, a critical transcription factor for the development of myeloid-lineage cells, is expressed much higher in γδ T cells than in αβ T cells. These results unveiled the molecular mechanisms for the elicitation of antigen-presenting functions in γδ T cells and would also help designing new approaches for γδ T cell-mediated human cancer immunotherapy.