Altered development of NKT cells, γδ T cells, CD8 T cells and NK cells in a PLZF deficient patient.

• Main Authors: Maggie Eidson, Justin Wahlstrom, Aimee M Beaulieu, Bushra Zaidi, Steven E Carsons, Peggy K Crow, Jianda Yuan, Jedd D Wolchok, Bernhard Horsthemke, Dagmar Wieczorek, Derek B Sant'Angelo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3167854?pdf=render

In mice, the transcription factor, PLZF, controls the development of effector functions in invariant NKT cells and a subset of NKT cell-like, γδ T cells. Here, we show that in human lymphocytes, in addition to invariant NKT cells, PLZF was also expressed in a large percentage of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells. Furthermore, PLZF was also found to be expressed in all γδ T cells and in all NK cells. Importantly, we show that in a donor lacking functional PLZF, all of these various lymphocyte populations were altered. Therefore, in contrast to mice, PLZF appears to control the development and/or function of a wide variety of human lymphocytes that represent more than 10% of the total PBMCs. Interestingly, the PLZF-expressing CD8+ T cell population was found to be expanded in the peripheral blood of patients with metastatic melanoma but was greatly diminished in patients with autoimmune disease.