AUTHOR=Bergantini Laura , d’Alessandro Miriana , Del Zotto Genny , Marcenaro Emanuela , Bargagli Elena 

TITLE=Characterization of natural killer and T cells in bronchoalveolar lavage and peripheral blood of sarcoidosis patients

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1080556

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.1080556

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p>The characterization of frequency and phenotypes of natural killer (NK) cells and T cells in BAL and peripheral blood of patients with sarcoidosis was evaluated, to discriminate the differential status of these cells in these two compartments. The analysis revealed that CD56<sup>bright</sup>CD16<sup>neg</sup> resulted higher in BAL than PB of sarcoidosis and healthy subjects, while CD56<sup>dim</sup>CD16<sup>+</sup> showed a different proportion between BAL and PB of both Sarcoidosis patients and HC. Moreover, in comparison with autologous PB, BAL was characterized by a higher expression of activated NK cell markers NKp44, CD69 and CD25. Significantly increased levels of PD-1<sup>+</sup> NK cells in the BAL of patients were detected. Regarding the maturation of CD4 and CD8, an increase of Effector Memory T cells (T<sub>EM</sub>) was reported in BAL compared to PB. A better characterization of NK and T cells may lead to an improvement of the pathogenetic mechanisms in sarcoidosis.</p>