Chemerin triggers migration of a CD8 T cell subset with natural killer cell functions

We identified subsets of human CD28- effector CD8 T cells, of CCR7- CD45RO+ effector memory (EM) and CCR7- CD45RO- effector memory RA (EMRA) phenotypes, that express the chemerin receptor CMKLR1 and bind chemerin via the receptor. This study investigates differential gene expression between the chemerin binding and nonbinding human CD8 EMRA T cell subsets. Overall design: Human blood CD8 EMRA T cells (CD8+ CD45RO- CCR7-) were sorted based on the presence or absence of chemerin binding and analyzed using Ultra-low input RNAseq. Three biological replicates were included in the analysis.