?? T cells compose a developmentally regulated intrauterine population and protect against vaginal candidiasis.

ABSTRACT: This most comprehensive analysis to date of ?? T cells in the murine uterus reveals them to compose a unique local T-cell compartment. Consistent with earlier reports, most cells expressed a canonical V?6V?1 TCR, and produced interleukin (IL)-17A upon stimulation. Nonetheless, contrasting with earlier reports, uterine ?? T cells were not obviously intraepithelial, being more akin to sub-epithelial V?6V?1⁺ T cells at several other anatomical sites. By contrast to other tissues however, the uterine compartment also included non-V?6⁺, IFN-?-producing cells; was strikingly enriched in young mice; expressed genes hitherto associated with the uterus, including the progesterone receptor; and did not require microbes for development and/or maintenance. This notwithstanding, ?? T-cell deficiency severely impaired resistance to reproductive tract infection by Candida albicans, associated with decreased responses of IL-17-dependent neutrophils. These findings emphasise tissue-specific complexities of different mucosal ?? cell compartments, and their evident importance in lymphoid stress-surveillance against barrier infection.

SUBMITTER: Monin L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7567646 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature