Phenotypical and functional alterations in the mucosal immune system of CD45 exon 9 KO mice.

The protein tyrosine phosphatase CD45 has been shown to be an important regulator of antigen-receptor signaling in both T and B lymphocytes. Lymphocyte populations within the gut mucosa are phenotypically and ontogenetically different from those generally found in secondary lymphoid tissue. In T lymphopenic mice, extrathymic T cell development takes place within the gut. Here we report the characterization of T and B cell populations in the distinct compartments of the gut mucosa and gut-associated lymphoid tissue of CD45-null mice. These data suggest that CD45 is required for the development of the specialized T cell populations within the gut environment as has been previously shown for thymic development. We demonstrate that within the large intestine intraepithelial compartment alphabeta-TCR+ CD4+ T cells are selectively retained by CD45KO mice. T cells and NK cells within the intraepithelium and the gut mucosa associated lymphoid tissue of CD45KO mice frequently possess an activated phenotype, differentiated to produce typical TH1 and TH2 cytokines. These data demonstrate that local environmental differences within the gut can, at least in part, overcome the requirement for CD45 during activation of T cells.