| First Author | Godfrey DI | Year | 1994 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 152 |
| Issue | 10 | Pages | 4783-92 |
| PubMed ID | 7513723 | Mgi Jnum | J:18038 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:66059 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.152.10.4783 |
| Citation | Godfrey DI, et al. (1994) Onset of TCR-beta gene rearrangement and role of TCR-beta expression during CD3-CD4-CD8- thymocyte differentiation. J Immunol 152(10):4783-92 |
| abstractText | TCR-beta gene rearrangement or expression is necessary and sufficient for the progression of early alpha beta thymocyte differentiation from the CD3-CD4-CD8- triple negative (TN)3 to the CD4+CD8+ double positive stage. The onset of TCR-beta rearrangement is currently thought to occur gradually. Some thymocytes were reported to be rearranged at the earliest (CD44+CD25-) TN stage, whereas other thymocytes did not initiate TCR-beta rearrangement until the latest (CD44-CD25-) TN stage. Here, we have isolated subsets of TN thymocytes on the basis of surface expression of CD44 and CD25, with c-kit as an additional marker. We present a revised model of early T cell development in which TCR-beta and TCR-gamma rearrangements occur abruptly, at the CD44lowCD25+ c-kitlowTN stage. A high level of c-kit expression defines pro-T cells which have not yet rearranged their TCR genes. Germ-line TCR-beta transcripts, and transcripts of recombination activating genes (RAG)-1 and 2, are detected before TCR-beta gene rearrangement. Analyses of TN thymocytes of RAG-1 mutant mice, and of various TCR mutant and TCR transgenic RAG-1 mutant mice, indicate the existence of a control point at the CD44-CD25+TN stage at which cells expressing a productively rearranged TCR-beta chain are selected for further differentiation. |
