Selective imprinting of gut-homing T cells by Peyer's patch dendritic cells

Abstract

Whereas naive T cells migrate only to secondary lymphoid organs1,2, activation by antigen confers to T cells the ability to home to non-lymphoid sites3,4. Activated effector/memory T cells migrate preferentially to tissues that are connected to the secondary lymphoid organs where antigen was first encountered5–7. Thus, oral antigens induce effector/memory cells that express essential receptors for intestinal homing, namely the integrin a4b7 and CCR9, the receptor for the gut-associated chemokine TECK/CCL25 (refs 6, 8, 9). Here we show that this imprinting of gut tropism is mediated by dendritic cells from Peyer’s patches. Stimulation of CD8-expressing T cells by dendritic cells from Peyer’s patches, peripheral lymph nodes and spleen induced equivalent activation markers and effector activity in T cells, but only Peyer’s patch dendritic cells induced high levels of a4b7, responsiveness to TECK and the ability to home to the small letters to nature 88 © 2003 Nature PublishingGroup NATURE | VOL 424 | 3 JULY 2003 | www.nature.com/nature intestine. These findings establish that Peyer’s patch dendritic cells imprint gut-homing specificity on T cells, and thus license effector/memory cells to access anatomical sites most likely to contain their cognate antigen.