Figure 4.

CD103⁺ and CD103⁻ CD8⁺ T cells display distinct phenotypes in healthy and transplanted intestine

(A) Representative expression of CD161, CD7, CD127 (IL7R), β2-integrin (ITGB2), and granzyme K on CD103⁻ (red) and CD103⁺ (black) donor-derived T cells from the intestinal transplant graft.

(B and C) Phenotypic analysis of CD8⁺ T cell populations in healthy small intestine.

(B) Representative flow cytometry plots and histograms of CD8⁺ T cell phenotype from spectral flow cytometry, with expression of the following markers plotted against CD103: CD69, CD161, CD7, CD127, β2-integrin, granzyme K, KLRG1, and Ki-67. Blue, CD69⁻CD103⁻ cells; red, CD69⁺CD103⁻ cells; black, CD69⁺CD103⁺ cells.

(C) Proportion of positive cells (CD161, KLRG1, and Ki-67) or MFI (CD7, CD127, β2-integrin, and granzyme K) of CD8⁺ T cells, categorized by CD69 and CD103 expression, in small intestinal biopsies from healthy control subjects (n = 10). Mean percentage or MFI represented by bars. Connecting lines represent populations from the same subject.

(D–I) Phenotypic analysis of recipient-derived CD8⁺ T cell populations infiltrating the intestinal transplant graft.

(D) The proportion of recipient-derived CD8⁺ T cells co-expressing CD69 and CD103 in intestinal transplant grafts, categorized by time after transplant (n = 35; 16 subjects).

(E–I) Proportion of CD161⁺ cells (E), MFI of CD127 (F), β2-integrin (G), and granzyme K (H), or proportion of Ki-67⁺ cells (I) of recipient-derived CD8⁺ T cells, categorized by CD69 and CD103 expression and time after transplant in intestinal transplant grafts (n = 23; 12 subjects). Mean percentage or MFI represented by bars. Black lines connect populations from the same subject.

Statistical analysis performed with one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple-comparison test. ^∗p ≤ 0.05, ^∗∗p ≤ 0.01, ^∗∗∗p ≤ 0.001, ^∗∗∗∗p ≤ 0.0001.