Identification of canine natural CD3-positive T cells expressing an invariant T-cell receptor alpha chain.

A representative T-cell subset exclusively using an invariant TCRalpha chain (iTCRalpha) is natural killer T (NKT) cells which are becoming an emerging topic for cancer and immune disorder in humans and mice. However, NKT cells in dogs have not yet been identified. In this study, CD3(+) T-lymphocyte population reactive to alpha-galactosylceramide-loaded mouse CD1d (alpha-GalCer/CD1d) were identified with flow cytometric analysis in mononuclear cells from spleen, liver, and peripheral blood of a dog with percentages of 0.