| First Author | Schallenberg S | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 8 | Pages | e41971 |
| PubMed ID | 22879902 | Mgi Jnum | J:189833 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5447107 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0041971 |
| Citation | Schallenberg S, et al. (2012) Vagaries of fluorochrome reporter gene expression in Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. PLoS One 7(8):e41971 |
| abstractText | CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T (Treg) cell lineage commitment and expression of the transcription factor Foxp3 can be induced at the CD4(+)CD8(+) double-positive (DP) and CD4(+)CD8(?) single-positive stages of thymic development, as well as in postthymic CD4(+) T cells in peripheral lymphoid tissues. The availability of transgenic mice with Foxp3-dependent fluorochrome reporter gene expression has greatly facilitated studies on the intra- and extrathymic generation of murine Foxp3(+) Treg cells. Here, we performed a comparative analysis of thymic Treg cell development and peripheral compartments of mature Treg cells in various transgenic strains with gene targeted and bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)-driven Foxp3-fluorochrome expression. These studies revealed a relative deficiency of Foxp3(+) DP thymocytes selectively in mice with targeted insertion of the fluorochrome reporter gene coding sequence into the endogenous Foxp3 gene. While Foxp3 BAC-driven fluorochrome expression in ex vivo CD4(+) T cells was found to faithfully reflect Foxp3 protein expression, we provide evidence that Foxp3 BAC transgenesis can result in sizable populations of Foxp3(+) Treg cells that lack fluorochrome reporter expression. This could be attributed to both timely delayed up-regulation of BAC expression in developing Treg cells and the accumulation of peripheral Foxp3(+) Treg cells with continuous transcriptional inactivity of the Foxp3 BAC transgene. |
