Human Intestinal intraepithelial T cells in "Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies (third edition)"

COSSARIZZA ANDREA; MULTIPLE AUTORES; CHIRDO F.G

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Lugar: Weinheim; Año: 2021 vol. 51 p. 2778 - 2781

0014-2980

Intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (iIELs) are a phenotypically heterogeneous population of T cells located amid epithelial cells of the GI tract, where they fulfill a critical role in preserving a healthy intestinal mucosa by protecting against pathogens and maintaining epithelial integrity. According to their developmental pathways and recognition properties, there are two main subsets of iIELs: adaptively induced CD8αβ+ or CD4+ TCRαβ+ T cells, and naturally-occurring TCR+ T cells. The infiltration of iIELs is a histological hallmark of celiac disease (CD), which is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the small intestine caused by gluten consumption that occurs in genetically susceptible individuals. Flow cytometry is a powerful technique for the study of immune cells and mechanisms in the intestinal mucosa, and one of its successful clinical applications has been the analysis of iIELs as a rapid and precise tool for the diagnosis and follow-up of CD.Here, we describe a protocol for the isolation and staining of iIELs from human duodenal biopsies, after routine endoscopy procedures. Besides the clinical use of iIELs phenotyping in the diagnosis of CD, future applications include lymphocyte extracellular and intracellular staining, and cell sorting for ex vivo functional studies.