CXCR6 Expression Is Important for Retention and Circulation of ILC Precursors

Figure 4

Intestinal ILC compartments have heterogeneous expression of CXCR6 and egress markers. (a) Flow cytometry of Lin⁻ (Lin: CD3ε, CD5, CD8, CD11c, CD19, TCRβ, TCRγδ, Ter119, and Gr1) adult intestinal LP from Rag2^−/−  Cxcr6^Gfp/+ mice. ILC subsets are defined as cNK (filled gray,   NK1.1⁺  NKp46⁺ IL-7Rα⁻), ILC1 (blue, Lin⁻ NK1.1⁺ NKp46⁺ IL-7Rα⁻), ILC2 (red, Lin⁻  NK1.1⁻        ), ILC3 NCR⁺ (green, Lin⁻ NK1.1⁻      c-Kit⁻ NKp46⁺), ILC3 NCR⁻ (orange, Lin⁻ NK1.1⁻       NKp46⁺ CD4⁻), and LTi-like (light blue, Lin⁻ NK1.1⁻       NKp46⁺ CD4⁺). Each compartment is analyzed for CXCR6-GFP expression. (b) Flow cytometry of Lin⁻ adult intestinal LP from Rag2^−/−  Cxcr6^Gfp/+ mice. ILC subsets are defined as ILC2 (red, Lin⁻ GATA-3⁺ RORγt⁻), ILC3 NCR⁺ (green, Lin⁻ GATA-3⁻ RORγt⁺ NKp46⁺ CD4⁻), ILC3 NCR⁻ (orange, Lin⁻ GATA-3⁻ RORγt⁺ NKp46⁻ CD4⁻), LTi-like (light blue, Lin⁻ GATA-3⁻ RORγt⁺ NKp46⁻ CD4⁺), and ILC1-cNK (blue, Lin⁻ GATA-3⁻ RORγt⁻ NKp46⁺ NK1.1⁺). (c) Histograms depicting levels of CD62L, CD69, CD44, CXCR6-GFP, and α₄β₇ in Lin⁻ (filled gray) or ILC subsets (as defined in Figure 3(b)) in adult LP (upper panels) or mesenteric lymph nodes (mLN, lower panels) from Rag2^−/− Cxcr6^Gfp/+ mice. Results are representative of at least 3 experiments each ((a), (b), (c): ).

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