| First Author | Schnell S | Year | 2006 |
| Journal | Int Immunol | Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 911-20 |
| PubMed ID | 16641111 | Mgi Jnum | J:109138 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3625810 | Doi | 10.1093/intimm/dxl028 |
| Citation | Schnell S, et al. (2006) Constitutive expression of the pre-TCR enables development of mature T cells. Int Immunol 18(6):911-20 |
| abstractText | Expression and signalling through the pre-TCR and the TCRalphabeta resemble two critical checkpoints during T cell development. We investigated to which extent a pre-TCR can functionally replace mature TCRalpha chains during T cell development. For this purpose, transgenic mice were generated expressing the pre-TCRalpha (pTalpha) under the transcriptional control of TCRbeta regulatory elements. We report here on the interesting finding that constitutive pTalpha expression allows complete T cell maturation. The pre-TCR complex permits a subset of beta-selected thymocytes to mature in the absence of TCRalpha into peripheral T cells (betaT cells) comprising up to 10% of all lymphocytes. Lymphopenia-driven proliferation of these betaT cells is similar to that of conventional alphabetaT cells. Furthermore, betaT cells proliferated and acquired effector function upon stimulation with allogeneic MHC. |
