| First Author | Erb KJ | Year | 1995 |
| Journal | Eur J Immunol | Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 1442-5 |
| PubMed ID | 7774648 | Mgi Jnum | J:25740 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:73455 | Doi | 10.1002/eji.1830250546 |
| Citation | Erb KJ, et al. (1995) Impaired survival of T cell receptor V gamma 3+ cells in interleukin-4 transgenic mice. Eur J Immunol 25(5):1442-5 |
| abstractText | The mouse epidermis contains a network of Thy-1+ dendritic T cells. Most of these cells express a homogeneous T cell receptor (TCR) configuration (V gamma 3/V delta 1) with only negligible junctional diversity. Because fetal thymocytes are precursors of these dendritic epidermal T cells (DETC) and the addition of interleukin (IL)-4 to fetal thymic organ cultures causes an early arrest in thymopoiesis, we examined DETC development in transgenic (tg) mice expressing IL-4 under the control of major histocompatibility complex class I regulatory sequences. Immunohistologic examination of epidermal sheets and polymerase chain reaction analysis of total skin RNA from IL-4 tg mice failed to reveal TCR V gamma 3+ DETC and V gamma 3 mRNA, respectively. In contrast, the sizes of TCR gamma delta subpopulations in lymphoid organs were unchanged in these mice. Although the numbers and staining intensities of TCR V gamma 3+ thymocytes in early fetal (days 14-17) IL-4 tg mice were similar to those of littermate controls, we observed a preferential death of these cells in thymic organ cultures from IL-4 tg mice. We observed further that epidermal sheets prepared from 9-day-old mice whose mothers had been treated with an IL-4-neutralizing antibody from day 12 to day 18 of pregnancy contained DETC numbers similar to those of controls. However, upon termination of the anti-IL-4 treatment, DETC ceased to expand. We conclude that IL-4 impairs the survival of TCR V gamma 3+ cells. |
