Figure 5.
iNKT-cell-mediated increase in leukocyte numbers in livers of Tf-mOVA mice after transfer of OTI T cells ± αGalCer. (A) α-GalCer was injected in Tf-mOVA and CD1d–/–Tf-mOVA mice, and, 5 days later, the absolute numbers of total lymphocytes, Vα14 iNKT cells (TCRβ+ and CD1d-tetramer+; gated population in top right panel), and NK cells (NK1.1+ and CD1d-tetramer–; gated population in bottom right panel) in the liver were compared with their counterparts in the livers of mice that had not received αGalCer. Data shown are medians ± SD of 4 mice per group. α-GalCer treatment induced a significant influx of Vα14 iNKT cells and NK cells (P = .021), which was absent in CD1d–/–Tf-mOVA mice. (B) OTI cells ± αGalCer were transferred into Tf-mOVA or CD1d–/–Tf-mOVA mice, and, 5 days later, their absolute intrahepatic cell counts were determined. Shown are medians ± SD of 6 mice per group. (C) OTI cells ± αGalCer were transferred into Tf-mOVA mice, and, at day 3, the frequencies of intrahepatic apoptotic OTI cells were determined by analyzing caspase-3 activity. OTI cells were defined as CD8+ Vα2+ cells, and the dot plots show representative data of 3 experiments, after gating on the CD8+ cell population. At day 5 after transfer of OTI T cells in the presence or absence of αGalCer, caspase-3 activity was minimal and no significant difference was observed (data not shown).