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Age-associated alteration of γδ T-cell repertoire and different profiles of activation-induced death of Vδ1 and Vδ2 T cells

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Abstract

It has been suggested that γδ T cells are involved in certain autoimmune disorders. To establish reference data for clinical studies to explore the role of γδ T cells in autoimmune bone marrow failure syndrome, we examined the γδ T-cell repertoire in 120 healthy Japanese individuals by flow cytometry. The average numbers of T lymphocytes in blood were as follows: 1,084 ± 369 (SD) αβ T cells, 68 ± 44 γδ T cells, 16 ± 12 Vδ1 T cells, and 43 ± 36 Vδ2 T cells (/μl). Absolute numbers of γδ T cells decreased with aging (R = −0.378, P < 0.001). The decrease of γδ T cells was the result of reduction of Vδ2, but not of Vδ1, T cells. Numbers of Vδ2 T cells were significantly higher in male than in female donors (P = 0.007). The Vδ2 T cells but not Vδ1 T cells showed a rapid reduction in cell numbers on mitogen stimulation, which was accompanied by modest down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein expression. These results indicate that age and gender have a major impact on γδ T-cell repertoire in Japanese donors, as well as European and American donors. The age-related decrease of Vδ2 T cells may be explained by their susceptibility to activation-induced cell death.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan (MH, 22591024; KS, 20591144), funds from the “Global Center of Excellence Program (COE)” of the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology, Sports and Culture of Japan, and a research grant from the Idiopathic Disorders of Hematopoietic Organs Research Committee of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. The authors are grateful to Hiromi Kataho and Etsuko Kobayashi (Department of Hematology, Nephrology and Rheumatology, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine) for their valuable technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, Nephrology and Rheumatology, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, Akita, Japan

    Yoshihiro Michishita, Yong-Mei Guo, Yukiko Abe, Jiajia Liu, Kumi Ubukawa, Naohito Fujishima, Masumi Fujishima, Tomoko Yoshioka, Yoshihiro Kameoka, Hirobumi Saito, Hiroyuki Tagawa, Naoto Takahashi & Kenichi Sawada

  2. Clinical Oncology Center, Akita University Hospital, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita, 010-8543, Japan

    Makoto Hirokawa

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  1. Yoshihiro Michishita
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Correspondence to Makoto Hirokawa.

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Supplementary Figure S1. Comparison of absolute lymphocyte numbers by different methods. Statistical significance was determined by Student’s t-test.

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Michishita, Y., Hirokawa, M., Guo, YM. et al. Age-associated alteration of γδ T-cell repertoire and different profiles of activation-induced death of Vδ1 and Vδ2 T cells. Int J Hematol 94, 230–240 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-011-0907-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-011-0907-7

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