| First Author | Yu S | Year | 2011 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 186 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 2655-62 |
| PubMed ID | 21220693 | Mgi Jnum | J:278590 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6359266 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.1002884 |
| Citation | Yu S, et al. (2011) CD8+ T cells induce thyroid epithelial cell hyperplasia and fibrosis. J Immunol 186(4):2655-62 |
| abstractText | CD8(+) T cells can be important effector cells in autoimmune inflammation, generally because they can damage target cells by cytotoxicity. This study shows that activated CD8(+) T cells induce thyroid epithelial cell hyperplasia and proliferation and fibrosis in IFN-gamma(-/-) NOD.H-2h4 SCID mice in the absence of CD4(+) T cells. Because CD8(+) T cells induce proliferation rather than cytotoxicity of target cells, these results describe a novel function for CD8(+) T cells in autoimmune disease. In contrast to the ability of purified CD8(+) T cells to induce thyrocyte proliferation, CD4(+) T cells or CD8 T cell-depleted splenocytes induced only mild thyroid lesions in SCID recipients. T cells in both spleens and thyroids highly produce TNF-alpha. TNF-alpha promotes proliferation of thyrocytes in vitro, and anti-TNF-alpha inhibits development of thyroid epithelial cell hyperplasia and proliferation in SCID recipients of IFN-gamma(-/-) splenocytes. This suggests that targeting CD8(+) T cells and/or TNF-alpha may be effective for treating epithelial cell hyperplasia and fibrosis. |
