The T cell receptor repertoire of intestinal intraepithelial gammadelta T lymphocytes is influenced by genes linked to the major histocompatibility complex and to the T cell receptor loci.

Most of the gammadelta T cells in the intestinal epithelium of normal mice use the Vgamma1 or the Vgamma7 gene segments. However, the relative proportions of gammadelta intraepithelial lymphocytes expressing either the Vgamma1 or the Vgamma7 chain vary among different strains of mice whereas they are quite constant between different individuals of the same strain, suggesting that genetic factors, rather than environmental factors, are responsible for the observed differences. To analyze the genetic factors influencing the representation of different gammadelta T cell subsets in the intestinal epithelium, we used available anti-T cell antigen receptor (TCR) V region-specific mAbs against Vgamma1, Vgamma4, Vgamma7, and Vdelta4 to examine the TCR repertoire of intraepithelial gammadelta lymphocytes in a set of (C57BL/6 x DBA/2) recombinant inbred strains. Our results show that the representation of different Vgamma and Vdelta gene products among gammadelta intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes is under a complex genetic control with a marked influence by genes closely linked to the TCRgamma, TCRdelta, and major histocompatibility complex loci.