Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2014 | Research article
T lymphocytes maintain structure and function of fibroblastic reticular cells via lymphotoxin (LT)-B
Authors:
Lintao Zhao, Lina Liu, Jianbao Gao, Yang Yang, Chunyan Hu, Bo Guo, Bo Zhu
Published in:
BMC Immunology
|
Issue 1/2014
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Abstract
Background
Although a lot is known about how Fibroblastic Reticular Cells (FRCs) can regulate T lymphocytes (T cells), little is understood about whether or how T cells can regulate FRCs.
Results
This study shows that the absence of T cells inhibited the secretion of ER-TR7 by splenic FRCs, induced the structural disorder of FRCs, down-regulated the expression of the chemokine ligands CCL21 and CCL19, and weakened the homing ability of T cells to the spleen of nude mice. Transfusion of T cells from BALB/c mice restored the structure and functions of FRCs and recovered them. The expression of lymphotoxin (LT)-B was significantly downregulated in the absence of T cells from nude mice and was recovered after the transfusion of T cells. After the occlusion of the LT-B receptor, the FRCs' structure and functions were not restored by transfusion of T cells.
Conclusions
These data reveal that the absence of T cells will subject spleen FRCs to structural and functional abnormality, and weaken the homing ability of T cells to the spleen. These changes are attributed to the T-cell- derived LT-B.