The role of CD57+γδ T cells in the immune pathogenesis of patients with sepsis

Abstract The immune response goes haywire during sepsis. The aim of this study was to explore the role of CD57+γδ T cells in the immune pathogenesis of sepsis. We characterized the transcriptomic profile of peripheral γδ T cells obtained from patients with sepsis using the Smart RNA-Sequence. We also analyzed the cell count and the immune functional signatures of CD57+γδ T cells in sepsis using flow cytometry. Besides, the cytotoxicity capacity of CD57+γδ T cell subset and its responses to sepsis-related drug were validated in vitro. Here, we found that patients with sepsis exhibited a reduction in peripheral CD57+γδ T cells proportion, which was positively associated with clinical outcomes. Compared with CD57-γδ T cells, CD57+γδ T cells exhibited drastically altered immunophenotype, including decreased expression levels of costimulatory molecules, higher expression levels of pro-inflammatory factors and cytotoxic granules.