Correction: The immunology of hypertension

Although the majority of T cell receptors are composed of α/β chains, a small percentage possess γ/δ receptors, and recent evidence suggests that these also contribute to hypertension. Caillon et al. (2017) recently showed that γ/δ T cells are important in hypertension, and that mice lacking these cells exhibit a markedly blunted rise in blood pressure and preserved endothelial function in response to Ang II infusion. γ/δ T cell–deficient mice also exhibited fewer activated CD4+ T cells expressing the marker CD69 in the spleen and mesenteric arteries, suggesting that γ/δ T cells might have an initiating role in hypertension. Likewise, antibody clearance of γ/δ T cells reduced the hypertensive response to Ang II. The precise mechanisms by which these cells promote hypertension remain to be defined, but these cells are also major sources of IL-17A, which has prohypertensive actions in both the kidney and vasculature (Saleh et al., 2016).