Nature Immunology 7, 482 - 488 (2006)
Published online: 2 April 2006; Corrected online: 02 May 06 | doi:10.1038/ni1319
CD8+ recent thymic emigrants home to and efficiently repopulate the small intestine epitheliumTracy L Staton1, Aida Habtezion2, Monte M Winslow1, Tohru Sato2, Paul E Love4
& Eugene C Butcher1, 2, 31
Program in Immunology, Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA. 2
Laboratory of Immunology and Vascular Biology, Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA. 3
Center for Molecular Biology and Medicine, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA. 4
Laboratory of Mammalian Genes and Development, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to Eugene C Butcher ebutcher@stanford.edu Prevailing knowledge dictates that naive   T cells require activation in lymphoid tissues before differentiating into effector or memory T cells capable of trafficking to nonlymphoid tissues. Here we demonstrate that CD8+ recent thymic emigrants (RTEs) migrated directly into the small intestine. CCR9, CCL25 and 47 integrin were required for gut entry of CD8+ RTEs. After T cell receptor stimulation, intestinal CD8+ RTEs proliferated and acquired a surface phenotype resembling that of intraepithelial lymphocytes. CD8+ RTEs efficiently populated the gut of lymphotoxin--deficient mice, which lack lymphoid organs. These studies challenge the present understanding of naive T cell trafficking and suggest that RTEs may be involved in maintaining a diverse immune repertoire at mucosal surfaces.*Note: In the version of this article initially published, the vertical axis label 'FITC' is missing from the right column in Figure 1a. The correct figure is presented here. The error has been corrected in the PDF version of the article.
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