Memory T (TM) cells play an important role in the long-term defense against pathogen reinvasion. However, it is still unclear how these cells receive the crucial signals necessary for their longevity and homeostatic turnover. To understand how TM cells receive these signals, we infected mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and examined the expression sites of neural cadherin (N-cadherin) by immunofluorescence microscopy. We found that N-cadherin was expressed in the surroundings of the white pulps of the spleen and medulla of lymph nodes (LNs). Moreover, TM cells expressing high levels of killer cell lectin-like receptor G1 (KLRG1), a ligand of N-cadherin, were co-localized with N-cadherin+ cells in the spleen but not in LNs. We then blocked N-cadherin in vivo to investigate whether it regulates the formation or function of TM cells. The numbers of CD127hiCD62Lhi TM cells in the spleen of memory P14 chimeric mice declined when N-cadherin was blocked during the contraction phase, without functional impairment of these cells. In addition, when CD127loKLRG1hi TM cells were adoptively transferred into anti-N-cadherin-treated mice compared with control mice, the number of these cells was reduced in the bone marrow and LNs, without functional loss. Taken together, our results suggest that N-cadherin participates in the development of CD127hiCD62Lhi TM cells and homing of CD127loKLRG1hi TM cells to lymphoid organs.
Keywords: homeostasis; homing; memory CD8 T cells; neural cadherin.