Human cytomegalovirus expands a CD8⁺ T cell population with loss of BCL11B expression and gain of NK cell identity.

ABSTRACT: CD8⁺ T cells not only are critical mediators of adaptive immunity but also may exhibit innate-like properties such as surface expression of NKG2C, an activating receptor typically associated with natural killer (NK) cells. We demonstrate that, similar to NK cells, NKG2C⁺TCRαβ⁺CD8⁺ T cells are associated with prior human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) exposure. In addition to expressing several NK cell markers such as CD56 and KIR, NKG2C⁺CD8⁺ T cells are oligoclonal and do not up-regulate PD-1 even in response to persistent activation. Furthermore, we found that NKG2C⁺CD8⁺ T cells from some individuals exhibited strong effector function against leukemia cells and HCMV-infected fibroblasts, which was dictated by

SUBMITTER: Sottile R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8601152 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature