PATTERNS OF PHOSPHOANTIGEN STIMULATION OF HUMAN V-GAMMA-9 V-DELTA-2 T-CELL CLONES INCLUDE TH0 CYTOKINES/

This paper examines functional properties of human V gamma 9/V delta 2 T cell lines and clones generated by in vitro culture with synthetic and natural (mycobacterial) phosphoanigenic molecules. It confirms the broad reactivity of V gamma 9/V delta 2 T cell lines and clones towar d phosphoantigens. Optimal recognition of phosphoantigens by V gamma 9 /V delta 2 T cells required accessory cells to occur, but did nor requ ire specialized antigen presenting cells. However, species origin of t he APC was irrelevant as proliferation of V gamma 9/V delta 2 T cells occurred in the presence of syngeneic, allogeneic or xenogeneic APC an d was nut: restricted to APC of particular tissue origin. Moreover ant igen uptake and processing was not required for recognition by V gamma 9/V delta 2 cells, as evidenced by the ability of fixed APCs to prese nt phosphoantigens. Similarly, the expression of classical MHC class I and class II molecules was not required for phosphoantigen recognitio n by gamma delta T cells. However, gamma delta T cell clones responded to stimulation by several cytokines including IL-12, IFN gamma and TN F alpha. Finally, V gamma 9/V delta 2 T cell clones preferentially pro duced both IFN-gamma and IL-4 in response io PHA or TUBAg stimulation, revealing that a ThO pattern of cytokine production is frequent among these cells. (C) American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunoge netics, 1997. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.