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Poly-functional T helper cells in human tonsillar mononuclear cells

  • Original Article
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European Cytokine Network

Abstract

Tonsils are important lymphoid organs in which B cells and T cells complete their maturation and identify cells that are infected by pathogens. However, the functions of T cells in human tonsils remain unclear, especially the characteristics of polyfunctional CD4+ T helper cells. In this study, we used multi-color flow cytometry to analyze the expression or co-expression of effector cytokines in CD4+ T cells from tonsillar tissues. We have demonstrated that tonsillar CD4+ T cell can express various Th effector cytokines after short-term polyclonal stimulation, and that cytokine-producing CD4+ T cells were CD45RO+ T cells. In addition, we analyzed the co-expression of two or more kinds of cytokines at the level of a single cell. The results showed that tonsillar CD4+ T cells exhibited polyfunctionality by co-expressing two to five kinds of cytokines in the same time. These data furnished a basic theory for further understanding the differentiation of polyfunctional Th cells in human tonsils and their functions in resisting invasive microorganisms.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. From the Institute of Immunology, Zhongshan School of Medicine; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Organ Donation and Transplant Immunology, Sun Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080, P.R. China

    Sifei Yu, Binyan Yang, Li Xiao & Changyou Wu

  2. From the department of Otolaryngology, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou, China

    Xi Luo

  3. From the Allergy Center, Otohinolaryngology Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Xingmei Wu & Huabin Li

Authors
  1. Sifei Yu
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  2. Xi Luo
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  3. Binyan Yang
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  4. Li Xiao
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  5. Xingmei Wu
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  6. Huabin Li
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  7. Changyou Wu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Changyou Wu.

Additional information

Disclosure. Financial support: this study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation of China (31470888) and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory Construction Projection on Organ Donation and Transplant Immunology (2013A061401007). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest: none.

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Yu, S., Luo, X., Yang, B. et al. Poly-functional T helper cells in human tonsillar mononuclear cells. Eur Cytokine Netw 30, 114–122 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1684/ecn.2015.0368

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