Phenotypic and functional analysis of porcine T lymphocytes

Porcine and other higher mammals express clusters of differentiation (CD) antigens on the surface of T lymphocytes, such as CD2, CD3, CD4, CD8, etc. However, in porcine, a high percentage of the CD4
⁺
CD8
⁺
T lymphocyte subpopulation exist in the peripheral blood and the ratio of the CD4
⁺
and CD8
⁺
T lymphocyte subpopulations is reversed. These differences bring new challenges to better understanding of the phenotype and function of porcine T lymphocytes in antigen recognition and immune response.