?d T Cells Provide Protective Function in Highly Pathogenic Avian H5N1 Influenza A Virus Infection

Dong, Peng; Ju, Xiangwu; Yan, Yiwu; Zhang, Siya; Cai, Menghua; Wang, Huaishan; Chen, Hui; Hu, Yu; Cui, Lianxian; Zhang, Jianmin; He, Wei

Unlike αβ T cells, γδ T cells demonstrate both innate and adaptive characteristics in their immune response and have potent antiviral activity against different viruses, including influenza A virus (10, 11) , human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (12) , cytomegalovirus (CMV) (13) , and herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) (14) . Recent studies demonstrated that γδ T cells expanded by the phosphoantigen isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) were able to kill monocyte-derived macrophages infected by human (H1N1) and avian (H9N2 or H5N1) influenza viruses (15, 16) . Peripheral γδ T cells can be rapidly activated by influenza virus (H1N1, H2N2, and H3N2) infection via a mechanism related to the mevalonate pathway (17) . However, the interaction between human γδ T cells and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses remains poorly understood. After H5N1 infection, numerous influenza virus particles are released from the infected epithelia or macrophages (18) . In the infection microenvironment, γδ T cells undoubtedly encounter these virus particles. Therefore, investigating the direct interaction of γδ T cells with HPAI H5N1 viruses is important. However, no reports of the direct effects of HPAI H5N1 viruses on human γδ T cells are yet available.