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A fat story—antigen presentation by butyrophilin 3A1 to γδ T cells

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 11, pages 5–7 (2014)Cite this article

Antigen specificity and receptor diversity are hallmarks of B and T cells. Only 1%–5% of all T cells bear a γδ T-cell receptor (TCR), and these cells have features of both innate and adaptive cells. While the antigen presentation process was long ago elucidated for αβ T cells, it has remained enigmatic for γδ T cells. In a recent study by Vavassori and co-workers,1 this major gap in knowledge was addressed and closed.

γδ T cells were first discovered in the 1980s.2 They triggered immense interest then and have done so again in recent years.3,4 There are two types of γδ T cells: those that are found in the epithelia and bear an invariant, tissue-specific γδ TCR and those that circulate in the periphery and have a diverse TCR repertoire. The former are generated exclusively within tight time windows in the fetal thymus, and the latter are generated throughout life. γδ T cells secrete inflammatory cytokines quickly after antigen contact and are pivotal in fighting bacterial infections and killing tumor cells. They are an important source of IL-17 and are thereby also involved in autoimmunity.5

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Acknowledgements

The research of CE is supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG ES103/5-1 and 103/6-1).

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  1. Molecular Immunology, IUF—Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Charlotte Esser

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Esser, C. A fat story—antigen presentation by butyrophilin 3A1 to γδ T cells. Cell Mol Immunol 11, 5–7 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2013.46

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