MURINE EPIDERMAL-GAMMA-DELTA T-CELLS EXPRESS FC-GAMMA RECEPTOR-II ENCODED BY THE FC-GAMMA R ALPHA-GENE

Short-term bulk cultures and some long-term clones and lines of murine T cell receptor (TcR) gamma/delta-bearing epidermal T cells (dEC) were found to express an Fc-gamma receptor II (Fc-gamma-RII), as revealed by reactivity with the monoclonal antibody 2.4G2. Northern blot analysis showed that the Fc-gamma-RII expressed on dEC is encoded solely by the Fc-gamma-R alpha-gene. While all the various cultured dEC cell populations analyzed exhibit lectin-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, only those which expressed Fc-gamma-R-alpha were also capable of mediating antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). These results in combination with the previous demonstration of Fc-gamma-R-alpha on mouse natural killer cells support an essential role for Fc-gamma-R-alpha in ADCC and extend an analogy with surface CD16 (Fc-gamma-RIII) expression and ADCC in human natural killer cells and peripheral TcR-gamma/delta-T cells.