?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

To investigate the role of γδ T cells in H5N1 virus-induced lung injury, we examined the effect of γδ T cell deficiency on the host response to H5N1 avian flu virus infection. The results showed that H5N1 virus-infected TCR-δ −/− mice died significantly earlier than did the WT controls ( Figure 1A) . Compared with the WT controls, the TCR-δ −/− mice experienced a greater loss of body weight ( Figure 1B) . The pathological alterations observed in the stained mouse lung tissues were also more severe in the TCR-δ −/− mice than in the WT controls; increased inflammatory cell infiltration was observed in the TCR-δ −/− mice after H5N1 virus infection ( Figure 1C) . The wet/dry weight ratio of the lung tissue, which is a measure of lung edema, was also markedly higher in the TCR-δ −/− mice 4 days after infection ( Figure 1D) . Taken together, these results demonstrate that a deficiency of γδ T cells results in a decreased survival rate and more severe lung injury following respiratory H5N1 infection, thus indicating that γδ T cells play a critical role in protection from H5N1 viral infection.