Abstract
The mechanisms regulating airway function are complex and still poorly understood. In diseases such as asthma, involvement of immune-dependent mechanisms has been suggested in causing changes in airway responsiveness to bronchoconstrictors. We now demonstrate that γδ T cells can regulate airway function in an αβ T cell-independent manner, identifying them as important cells in pulmonary homeostasis. This function of γδ T cells differs from previously described immune-dependent mechanisms and may reflect their interaction with innate systems of host defense.
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Acknowledgements
We thank B. Schilling and L.Cunningham for their assistance in the histological preparation, and L. Landskroner for composing the illustrations. Salary support for M.L. was provided by the German Research Association (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), through a Postdoctoral Fellowship Award of the Arthritis Foundation and by the Melvin Garb Endowed Fellowship in Basic Immunology. This work was supported by NIH grants HL-36577 to E.W.G., AI-40611 to W.B. and AI-01291 to R.L.O., and by EPA grant R85793.
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Lahn, M., Kanehiro, A., Takeda, K. et al. Negative regulation of airway responsiveness that is dependent on γδ T cells and independent of αβ T cells. Nat Med 5, 1150–1156 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/13476
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/13476
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