Kl. Cepek et al., ADHESION BETWEEN EPITHELIAL-CELLS AND T-LYMPHOCYTES MEDIATED BY E-CADHERIN AND THE ALPHA(E)BETA(7) INTEGRIN, Nature, 372(6502), 1994, pp. 190-193
IN contrast to sessile cell types, lymphocytes migrate through the vas
culature to become diffusely distributed in tissues or organized in ly
mphoid structures. A complex array of adhesion molecules including sel
ectins, integrins and their counter-receptors mediate lymphocyte homin
g and migration into tissues and may be constitutively expressed or in
duced(1,2). However, the molecules that mediate the tissue-specific re
tention of lymphocytes within the parenchyma have not been identified.
Along the epithelium at the basolateral surface of enterocytes, intes
tinal intraepithelial lymphocytes are found. These T cells of the muco
sal immune system serve as a model for the tissue-specific compartment
alization of lymphocytes. We investigated whether the localization of
these intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes could be mediated by spec
ific interactions between adhesion molecules expressed selectively on
this subpopulation of T cells and tissue-restricted adhesion molecules
on epithelial cells. Here we show that heterotypic adhesive interacti
ons between epithelial cells and intraepithelial lymphocytes in vitro
are mediated by E-cadherin and the alpha(E) beta(7) integrin.