Fig. 2

CD4⁺NKG2D⁺ T cells express the conventional TCR αβ in both healthy donors and cervical cancer patients. Multicolor flow cytometry analysis was performed in order to discard that the triple positive CD3⁺CD4⁺NKG2D⁺ T cells were either γδ T cells or iNKT cells. In (a) we show a representative example of high percentage of CD4⁺ T cells expressing NKG2D in a cervical cancer sample. Following multicolor staining to detect CD3 expression and CD4 co-expression, NKG2D was evaluated. Then, expression of TCR αβ and Vα24Jα18 (in order to know whether they represented a population of iNKT cells) was measured on the triple positive CD3⁺CD4⁺NKG2D⁺ T cell population. In (b) we show the distribution of TCR αβ on CD4⁺NKG2D⁺ T cells in controls and cervical cancer patients. More than 95 % of the CD3⁺CD4⁺NKG2D⁺ T cells were TCR αβ⁺ in both controls and cervical cancer patients. Distribution of TCR Vα24Jα18 on selected CD3⁺CD4⁺NKG2D⁺ T cells in controls and cervical cancer patients is shown in (c), which indicates that CD3⁺CD4⁺NKG2D⁺ T cells were mostly negative to Vα24Jα18 in both groups. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM