Antigen-driven clonal accumulation of peritoneal gamma delta T cells in vivo

How the clonality of gamma delta T cells changes in response to exogenous a ntigens is uncertain. Here we analyzed kinetics of V gamma 1.1 and V gamma 2 T cell clonality after intraperitoneal injection of purified protein deri vatives (PPD) by the heterogeneity of the third complementarity determining region (CDR3) length in V gamma 1.1-J gamma 4-C gamma 4 and V gamma 2-J ga mma 1-C gamma 1 junctions. The V-J junctions were analyzed in intrahepatic lymphocytes (IHL), spleen cells, and peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) by poly acrylamide gel electrophoresis. gamma delta T cells expressing V gamma 1.1 and V gamma 2 genes were heterogeneous in normal mice. Accumulation of spec ific V gamma 1.1 T cell clones was transiently detected 7 days after the in jection in PEG, but no accumulation was observed in IHL and spleen cells. T he accumulated clones disappeared by 4 weeks. Transient accumulation of V g amma 2 T cell clones was also observed in PEC at the early phase after the injection. These results suggest that gamma delta T cells with specific TCR respond to PPD and temporary accumulate in the peritoneal cavity. but not in liver and spleen.