Expansion of MAIT cells in the combined absence of NKT and γδ-T cells

C Xu; S Li; TS Fulford; SN Christo; LK Mackay; DH Gray; AP Uldrich; DG Pellicci; D I Godfrey; HF Koay

Journal article

Expansion of MAIT cells in the combined absence of NKT and γδ-T cells

C Xu, S Li, TS Fulford, SN Christo, LK Mackay, DH Gray, AP Uldrich, DG Pellicci, D I Godfrey, HF Koay

Mucosal Immunology | ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC | Published : 2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.mucimm.2023.05.003

Abstract

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, natural killer T (NKT) cells, and γδT cells are collectively referred to as ‘unconventional T cells’ due to their recognition of non-peptide antigens and restriction to MHC-I-like molecules. However, the factors controlling their widely variable frequencies between individuals and organs are poorly understood. We demonstrated that MAIT cells are increased in NKT or γδT cell-deficient mice and highly expand in mice lacking both cell types. TCRα repertoire analysis of γδT cell-deficient thymocytes revealed altered Trav segment usage relative to wild-type thymocytes, highlighting retention of the Tcra-Tcrd locus from the 129 mouse strain used to gene..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

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Grants

Awarded by Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation

Funding Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Marco Herold and Dr Andrew Kueh from Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for generating and providing Tra-j18 gene-deleted heterozygous mice, supported by Phenomics Australia and the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) program. We thank Prof. Mitchell Kronenberg, Dr. Mallory Paynich, Dr. Catherine Crosby, Dr. Nadine Hartmann, A/Prof. Michele Teng, and Dr. Lynette Beattie for helpful discussions. We thank the staff in the Doherty Institute Animal House for animal husbandry assistance. We also thank Tina Luke and staff at the Doherty Institute Flow Cytometry Facility, and Vanta Jameson and staff at the Melbourne Brain Centre Flow Cytometry Facility, for flow cytometry support. Sequencing services utilized in this report were provided by the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF).