Expression of disulfide-linked and non-disulfide-linked forms of the T cell receptor gamma/delta heterodimer in human intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes.

Immunohistochemistry has been used to investigate disulfide- and non-disulfide-linked forms of the T cell receptor gamma/delta heterodimer (TcR gamma/delta) in blood and intestinal epithelium of normal human small intestine, intestine of patients with untreated coeliac disease (in whom T cells expressing TcR gamma/delta are disproportionately raised), intestine of patients with tropical malabsorption, and in the human fetus. In blood from adult volunteers, 90% of T cells expressing TcR gamma/delta use the disulfide-linked form. In contrast in the epithelium in normal small intestine, coeliac disease and tropical malabsorption, most of the T cells expressing TcR gamma/delta use the non-disulfide-linked form. This is especially prominent in untreated coeliac disease where the increase in TcR gamma/delta T cells is mainly restricted to those using the non-disulfide-linked form. In human fetal small intestinal epithelium, however, only cells using the disulfide-linked form are present. These variations in expression of different forms of TcR gamma/delta in the gut epithelium in different conditions suggests that antigen, or some as yet undefined factor may determine the frequency of each subpopulation.