Gut Cryptopatches: Direct Evidence of Extrathymic Anatomical Sites for Intestinal T Lymphopoiesis

• Published in: Immunity (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2000-11, Vol.13 (5), p.691-702
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Kenji, Oida, Takatoku, Hamada, Hiromasa, Hitotsumatsu, Osamu, Watanabe, Mamoru, Hibi, Toshifumi, Yamamoto, Hiroshi, Kubota, Eiro, Kaminogawa, Shuichi, Ishikawa, Hiromichi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Cell Differentiation - immunology; Cell Lineage - immunology; Immunity, Mucosal; Intestines - cytology; Intestines - immunology; Mice; Mice, Nude; Mutation; T-Lymphocytes - cytology; T-Lymphocytes - immunology
• ISSN: 1074-7613; 1097-4180
• DOI: 10.1016/S1074-7613(00)00068-6

Athymic cytokine receptor γ chain mutant mice that lack the thymus, Peyer's patches, cryptopatches (CP), and intestinal T cells were reconstituted with wild-type bone marrow cells. Bone marrow–derived TCR − intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) first appeared within villous epithelia of small intestine overlying the regenerated CP, and these TCR − IEL subsequently emerged throughout the epithelia. Thereafter, TCR + IEL increased to a comparable number to that in athymic mice and consisted of TCRγδ and TCRαβ IEL. In gut-associated lymphoid tissues of wild-type mice, only CP harbored a large population of c-kit highIL-7R +CD44 +Thy-1 +/−CD4 +/−CD25 low/−α Eβ 7 −Lin − (Lin, lineage markers) lymphocytes that included cells expressing germline but not rearranged TCRγ and TCRβ gene transcripts. These findings provide direct evidence that gut CP develop progenitor T cells for extrathymic IEL descendants.