AUTHOR=Jing Yuchao , Cao Min , Zhang Bei , Long Xuehui , Wang Xiaoming 

TITLE=cDC1 Dependent Accumulation of Memory T Cells Is Required for Chronic Autoimmune Inflammation in Murine Testis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.651860

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2021.651860

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=As an immune privilege site, there are various of immune cells in the testis. Previous research has been focused on the testicular macrophages, much less is known about the T cells in testis. Here, we found that T cells with memory phenotypes were the most abundant leucocyte in the testis except for macrophages. Our results shown that the proportion of testicular T cells increases gradually from birth to adulthood in mice, and that the primary type of T cells changed from γδTCR+ T cells to αβTCR+ T cells. In addition, under homeostatic conditions, CD8+ T cells are the dominant subgroup, and has different phenotypic characteristics from CD4+ T cells. We found that cDC1, but not cDC2, is necessary for the presence of T cells in the testis under physiological state. Significant decrease of T cells does not have a deleterious effect on the development of the testis or spermatogenesis. However, cDC1 dependent T cells play an indispensable role in chronic autoimmune orchitis of the testis. Collectively, our multifaceted data provides a comprehensive picture of the accumulation, localization and function of testicular T cells.