Phenotypical and Functional Analysis of Intraepithelial Lymphocytes from Small Intestine of Mice in Oral Tolerance

• Main Authors: Maristela Ruberti, Luis Gustavo Romani Fernandes, Patricia Ucelli Simioni, Dirce Lima Gabriel, Áureo Tatsumi Yamada, Wirla Maria da Silva Cunha Tamashiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2012-01-01
• Series: Clinical and Developmental Immunology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/208054
• ISSN: 1740-2522; 1740-2530

In this work, we evaluated the effects of administration of OVA on phenotype and function of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) from small intestine of transgenic (TGN) DO11.10 and wild-type BALB/c mice. While the small intestines from BALB/c presented a well preserved structure, those from TGN showed an inflamed aspect. The ingestion of OVA induced a reduction in the number of IELs in small intestines of TGN, but it did not change the frequencies of CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell subsets. Administration of OVA via oral + ip increased the frequency of CD103+ cells in CD4+ T-cell subset in IELs of both BALB/c and TGN mice and elevated its expression in CD8β+ T-cell subset in IELs of TGN. The frequency of Foxp3+ cells increased in all subsets in IELs of BALB/c treated with OVA; in IELs of TGN, it increased only in CD25+ subset. IELs from BALB/c tolerant mice had lower expression of all cytokines studied, whereas those from TGN showed high expression of inflammatory cytokines, especially of IFN-γ, TGF-β, and TNF-α. Overall, our results suggest that the inability of TGN to become tolerant may be related to disorganization and altered proportions of inflammatory/regulatory T cells in its intestinal mucosa.