T‐Cell Receptors Are Expressed but Down‐Regulated on Intradecidual T Lymphocytes

PROBLEM: Dietl et al. considered “intradecidual T cell tolerance towards fetal antigens” with their observation that intradecidual T cells lack immunohistochemically detectable amounts of T cell receptor (TCR) molecules while expressing normal amounts of CD3 molecules during early normal pregnancy. METHOD: To reevaluate these findings we examined the TCR and CD3 expression on intradecidual T cells using flow cytometry. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, all intradecidual CD3⁺ T cells expressed either TCR αβ or TCR γδ. However, the expression of the CD3/TCR complex on intradecidual T cells was down‐regulated. The level of CD3/TCR complex expression on intradecidual T cells was about two‐thirds of that on peripheralblood T cells. Further, the proportions of αβ ⁺ and γδ ⁺ cells in CD3 ⁺ cells did not significantly differ between decidua and peripheral blood. 1993 Munksgaard