Expression of disulfide‐linked and non‐disulfide‐linked forms of the T cell receptor γ/δ heterodimer in human intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes

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Abstract
Immunohistochemistry has been used to investigate disulfide‐ and non‐disulfide‐linked forms of the T cell receptor γ/δ heterodimer (TcR γ/δ) in blood and intestinal epithelium of normal human small intestine, intestine of patients with untreated coeliac disease (in whom T cells expressing TcR γ/δ are disproportionately raised), intestine of patients with tropical malabsorption, and in the human fetus. In blood from adult volunteers, 90% of T cells expressing TcR γ/δ use the disulfide‐linked form. In contrast in the epithelium in normal small intestine, coeliac disease and tropical malabsorption, most of the T cells expressing TcR γ/δ use the non‐disulfide‐linked form. This is especially prominent in untreated coeliac disease where the increase in TcR γ/δ T cells is mainly restricted to those using the non‐disulfide‐linked form. In human fetal small intestinal epithelium, however, only cells using the disulfide‐linked form are present. These variations in expression of different forms of TcR γ/δ in the gut epithelium in different conditions suggests that antigen, or some as yet undefined factor may determine the frequency of each subpopulation.