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γδ T cells in liver diseases

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Abstract

γδ T cells display unique developmental, distributional, and functional patterns and can rapidly respond to various insults and contribute to diverse diseases. Different subtypes of γδ T cells are produced in the thymus prior to their migration to peripheral tissues. γδ T cells are enriched in the liver and exhibit liver-specific features. Accumulating evidence reveals that γδ T cells play important roles in liver infection, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis, liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, and liver cancer and regeneration. In this study, we review the properties of hepatic γδ T cells and summarize the roles of γδ T cells in liver diseases. We believe that determining the properties and functions of γδ T cells in liver diseases enhances our understanding of the pathogenesis of liver diseases and is useful for the design of novel γδ T cell-based therapeutic regimens for liver diseases.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Anhui Natural Science Foundation (No. 1708085QH183), Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81302863, 31390433, and 91542000), and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (973 Program, No. 2013CB944902).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, China

    Xuefu Wang

  2. Institute of Immunology and CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, China

    Zhigang Tian

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China

    Zhigang Tian

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Wang, X., Tian, Z. γδ T cells in liver diseases. Front. Med. 12, 262–268 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11684-017-0584-x

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