Premium
Phenotypic and functional changes in gamma delta T lymphocytes from HTLV‐1 carriers
Author(s) -
Cavalcanti De Albuquerque Raquel,
Granato Alessandra,
Silva Castro Isabela,
Carvalho Torres Rafael,
Santos Souza Flávia,
Lima Marco Antonio,
Celestino Bezerra Leite Ana Claudia,
Melo Espíndola Otávio,
EchevarriaLima Juliana
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of leukocyte biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.819
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1938-3673
pISSN - 0741-5400
DOI - 10.1002/jlb.ma1118-467r
Subject(s) - tropical spastic paraparesis , biology , immunology , human t lymphotropic virus , immune system , population , t lymphocyte , human t lymphotropic virus 1 , virology , virus , t cell , cd8 , myelopathy , spinal cord , medicine , environmental health , neuroscience , t cell leukemia
Human T‐cell lymphotropic virus type‐1 (HTLV‐1) is the etiologic agent of HTLV‐1‐associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), which is a chronic inflammatory disease that leads to gradual loss of motor movement as a result of the death of spinal cord cells through immune mediated mechanisms. The risk to develop HAM/TSP disease positively correlates with the magnitude of HTLV‐1 proviral load. Gamma‐delta T lymphocytes have been recognized as important players in a variety of infectious diseases. Therefore, we have investigated interactions between HTLV‐1 infection and γδ T lymphocytes during HAM/TSP. Similar frequencies of total γδ T lymphocytes and their Vγ9δ2 + and Vγ9δ2 neg subpopulations were observed in HAM/TSP patients. However, T lymphocytes obtained from HTLV‐1 carriers displayed significantly higher rates of spontaneous proliferation and NKp30 expression when compared to cells from uninfected donors. In addition, an important decrease in the frequency of granzyme B + γδ T lymphocytes (approximately 50%) was observed in HAM/TSP patients. Higher proportion of IFN‐γ + γδ T lymphocytes was found in HTLV‐1‐infected patients, which positively correlated with the HTLV‐1 proviral load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Collectively, our data indicates that HTLV‐1 infection leads to phenotypic and functional changes in the population of γδ T lymphocyte population, suggesting that HTLV‐1 infection modulates functions associated to these cells, which might be involved in controlling the infection or in the development of HTLV‐1‐associated diseases.