Premium
Coexpression of CCR6 and CD146 (MCAM) is a marker of effector memory T‐helper 17 cells
Author(s) -
KAMIYAMA Taisuke,
WATANABE Hideaki,
IIJIMA Masafumi,
MIYAZAKI Akira,
IWAMOTO Sanju
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1346-8138
pISSN - 0385-2407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1346-8138.2012.01544.x
Subject(s) - c c chemokine receptor type 6 , cd146 , flow cytometry , immunology , c c chemokine receptor type 7 , effector , population , t cell , biology , inflammation , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , chemokine receptor , immune system , chemokine , stem cell , environmental health , cd34
Effector memory T (T EM ) cells are a subpopulation of memory T cells that express receptors mediating migration to inflamed tissues and produce various cytokines. Effector memory T‐helper (Th)17 (Th17 EM ) cells are thought to be essential for inflammation in Th17‐mediated diseases, but have not been studied in detail. To identify superior surface markers to isolate a homogeneous population of Th17 EM cells from peripheral blood, CD4 + T cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of healthy donors based on the expression of CCR7, CCR6 and CD146 using six‐color flow cytometry. After 4 days of culture in the presence of anti‐CD3/28 beads, intracellular cytokines were determined by flow cytometric analysis. To investigate the relevance of Th17 EM cells in Th17‐mediated disease, the frequencies of T EM ‐cell subsets in psoriasis were quantified using six‐color flow cytometry. An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay was performed to confirm the interleukin (IL)‐17‐producing capacity of T EM ‐cell subsets from the peripheral blood of a patient with psoriasis. CCR6 + CD146 + T EM (CD4 + CD45RA − CCR7 − ) cells had a greater capacity to produce IL‐17 than CCR6 + CD146 − or CCR6 − CD146 + T EM cells. Although the percentage of CCR6 + CD146 + cells in T EM cells was not significantly different between patients with psoriasis and controls, three of eight patients had a higher percentage of CCR6 + CD146 + T EM cells than the mean +5 standard deviations of the controls. Coexpression of CCR6 and CD146 is a useful marker for Th17 EM cells. Increasing the number of CCR6 + CD146 + Th17 EM cells in peripheral blood may facilitate estimation of systemic Th17‐cell activity in Th17‐mediated diseases.