FLOW CYTOMETRIC ANALYSIS FOR CYTOKINE PRODUCTION IDENTIFIES T-HELPER-1, T-HELPER-2, AND T-HELPER-0 CELLS WITHIN THE HUMAN CD4(-) LYMPHOCYTESUBPOPULATION()CD27()
Lh. Elson et al., FLOW CYTOMETRIC ANALYSIS FOR CYTOKINE PRODUCTION IDENTIFIES T-HELPER-1, T-HELPER-2, AND T-HELPER-0 CELLS WITHIN THE HUMAN CD4(-) LYMPHOCYTESUBPOPULATION()CD27(), The Journal of immunology, 154(9), 1995, pp. 4294-4301
Using three-color flow cytometric analysis for the detection of intrac
ellular cytokines, we have been able to determine the exact combinatio
n of cytokines produced by individual T lymphocytes. Because CD4(+)CD2
7(-) lymphocytes have been shown to produce more IL-4 and IL-5 than CD
4(+)CD27(+) lymphocytes, cells from normal individuals (n = 4) and hel
minth-infected patients (n = 4) were sorted magnetically for the CD4()CD27(+) and the CD4(+)CD27(-) subpopulations. Intracellular staining
for IL-4, IL-5, and IFN-gamma subsequent to mitogen stimulation for 6
h revealed that although almost no CD4(+)CD27(-) lymphocytes produce b
oth IL-5 and IFN-gamma (0.03-1.4%), a distinct proportion produce both
IL-4 and IFN-gamma (0.1-8.0%), and 66% to 84% of IL-5-producing cells
also produce IL-4. Patients and normal individuals had the same funct
ional T cell subsets, but the CD4(+)CD27(-) lymphocytes from patients
had higher frequencies of cells producing IL-4 (geometric mean (GM), 2
4.3% vs 16.4%) or IL-5 (CM, 10.2% vs 2.9%), whereas those of normal in
dividuals had higher frequencies of cells producing IFN-gamma (GM, 44.
5% vs 17.2%; p = 0.043). These analyses also revealed that the CD4(+)C
D27(-) population included significantly higher frequencies of cells t
hat were IL-5(+)IFN-gamma(-) (CM, 4.9% vs 1.5%; p = 0.025), IL-4(+)IFN
-gamma(-) (GM, 13.8% vs 3.5%; p = 0.025), and IFN-gamma(+)IL-4(-)IL-5(
-) (GM, 27.3% vs 12.0%; p = 0.011)than the CD4(+)CD27(+) population. T
hus, we have clearly demonstrated Th1, Th2, and Th0 cell subsets withi
n the CD4(+)CD27(-) population of human lymphocytes.