Human Naive T Cells Express Functional CXCL8 and Promote Tumorigenesis

  • J Immunol. 2018 Jul 15;201(2):814-820. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1700755.
Joel Crespo  1  2 ,  Ke Wu  1  3 ,  Wei Li  1  3 ,  Ilona Kryczek  1 ,  Tomasz Maj  1 ,  Linda Vatan  1 ,  Shuang Wei  1 ,  Anthony W Opipari  4 ,  Weiping Zou  5  2  6  7  8
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Surgery, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
  • 2. Graduate Program in Immunology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
  • 3. Department of Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
  • 4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
  • 5. Department of Surgery, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; [email protected].
  • 6. Department of Pathology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
  • 7. University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; and.
  • 8. Graduate Program in Tumor Biology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
PMID: 29802127 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1700755
Abstract

Naive T cells are thought to be functionally quiescent. In this study, we studied and compared the phenotype, cytokine profile, and potential function of human naive CD4+ T cells in umbilical cord and peripheral blood. We found that naive CD4+ T cells, but not memory T cells, expressed high levels of chemokine CXCL8. CXCL8+ naive T cells were preferentially enriched CD31+ T cells and did not express T cell activation markers or typical Th effector cytokines, including IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-17, and IL-22. In addition, upon activation, naive T cells retained high levels of CXCL8 expression. Furthermore, we showed that naive T cell-derived CXCL8 mediated neutrophil migration in the in vitro migration assay, supported tumor sphere formation, and promoted tumor growth in an in vivo human xenograft model. Thus, human naive T cells are phenotypically and functionally heterogeneous and can carry out active functions in immune responses.

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