Abstract
Although it has been known that γδ T cells may play an important role in the immune response to infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), the mechanisms by which the γδ T cells participate in the innate and/or acquired immunity to tuberculosis (TB) have not been full elucidated. In the present study, 27 patients with active pulmonary TB and 16 healthy donors (HD) were performed. We found that proportion of IL-17-producing cells among lymphocyte was similar between TB patients and HD, whereas the proportions of γδ T cells in IL-17-producing cells (59.2%) and IL-17-producing cells in γδ T cells (19.4%) in peripheral blood were markedly increased in TB patients when compared to those in HD (43.9% and 7.7%, respectively). In addition, the proportions of IFN-γ-producing γδ T cells in TB patients were obviously lower than that in HD. Upon re-stimulated with M. tb heat-treated antigen (M. tb-HAg) in vitro, fewer IL-17-producing γδ T cells were generated from HD and TB patients, whereas IFN-γ-producing γδ T cells were increased in TB patients compared to that in HD. Our findings in TB patients and healthy human were consistent with other murine investigation that the IL-17-producing γδ T cells were main source of IL-17 in mouse model of BCG infection, suggesting that γδ T cells might be involved in the formation of tubercular granuloma in pulmonary TB patients, but need further identification.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Peng, M., Wang, Z., Yao, C. et al. Interleukin 17-Producing γδ T Cells Increased in Patients with Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Cell Mol Immunol 5, 203–208 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2008.25
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2008.25
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
γδ T cells: origin and fate, subsets, diseases and immunotherapy
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (2023)
-
γδ T cells in tissue physiology and surveillance
Nature Reviews Immunology (2021)
-
Host defense mechanisms against Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences (2020)
-
The epipharynx-kidney axis triggers glomerular vasculitis in immunoglobulin A nephropathy
Immunologic Research (2019)
-
Subpopulation Structure of IFNγ-Producing T Lymphocytes in Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine (2018)