Tissue-specific adaptation of human T cells is preserved during tissue inflammation
and the functional capacity following stimulation, utilizing conventional gating and unsupervised clustering analysis approaches. Overall, we analyzed 65 tissue samples including mild, moderate, and severely inflamed oral gingiva, healthy and inflamed lung, along with healthy and inflamed tissue from the decidual-placental interface. Across these mucosal barrier tissues, we find that tissue location plays a dominant role in shaping the composition, phenotype, and functional capacity of the T cell compartment. Importantly, these tissue-specific adaptations were largely maintained during states of tissue inflammation. This included the ability to exert tissue repair functions, which was preserved across T cell subsets, even in severely inflamed tissues.
Authors
- Douglas R. Dixon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0911-3717)
- Alexis K Taber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7012-3001)
- Shelton W. Wright (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1457-9821)
- Hugh R. MacMillan
- Geervani Daggupati
- Evan W. Newell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2889-243X)
- Caitlin S. DeJong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5714-0077)
- Nicole Potchen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0699-8863)
- Martin Prlic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0685-9321)
- Stephen A. McCartney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1102-6778)
- A Konecny (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3492-1006)
- Eva Domenjo-Vila
Institutions
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Fred Hutch Cancer Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-04-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.09.717255
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- T-cell and B-cell Immunology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 11.92
Funders
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
- National Institutes of Health