RNAseq of CD8+ and CD8- MAIT cells in human peripheral blood

Mucosa-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are unconventional innate-like T cells that recognize microbial riboflavin metabolites presented by the MHC class I-like protein MR1. Human MAIT cells predominantly express the CD8α co-receptor (CD8+), with a smaller subset lacking both CD4 and CD8 (DN). However, it is unclear if these two MAIT cell sub-populations distinguished by CD8α represent functionally distinct subsets. To address this, we investigated the phenotypic, transcriptional, and functional differences between CD8+ and DN MAIT cells using human samples from peripheral blood, mucosal tissues, and fetal tissues. We FACS sorted CD8+ and CD8- MAIT cells from human peripheral blood and performed bulk RNAseq on these cells