Table 1 Comparison between TCRγδ and TCRαβ lymphocytes
From: Pregnancy and gamma/delta T cells: Taking on the hard questions
Comparison between the γδT and αβT lymphocyte lineage | |||
Characteristics | γδT lymphocytes | αβT lymphocytes | |
Resident | Circulating | ||
Immunity affiliation | innate | innate/adaptive(?) | adaptive |
Ontogeny | develop earlier | develop earlier | develop later |
Development | thymus/ extra-thymus | thymus | thymus/extra-thymus |
Ag-receptor configuration | CD3+Vδ1 | CD3+Vδ2 | CD3+TCRαβ |
Phenotype | different from αβT cells | similar to αβT cells | |
CD4-/CD8- (most) | CD4-/CD8- (most) | CD4+ or CD8+ | |
CD8+ or CD8αα (some) | |||
MHC restriction | no | no | yes |
Antigen recognition | self-antigens | non-peptide antigens from bacteria and plants | peptide+MHC |
Frequency in blood | very few | 1–10% | 65–75% |
Tissue distribution | mucosae, epithelia, lymphoid tissues | blood lymphoid tissues (?) | blood, lymphoid tissues, mucosae |
Effector functions | cytotoxic potency | cytotoxic potency | cytotoxic potency |
cytokine release | cytokine release | cytokine release (Th1/Th2) | |
Biological functions | immunoregulation | pathogen eradication | pathogen eradication |
immunosurveillance | immune protection | ||
pathogen eradication | |||
wound repair (mice) | |||