| First Author | Moon JJ | Year | 2011 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 108 |
| Issue | 35 | Pages | 14602-7 |
| PubMed ID | 21873213 | Mgi Jnum | J:175217 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5284997 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.1109806108 |
| Citation | Moon JJ, et al. (2011) Quantitative impact of thymic selection on Foxp3+ and Foxp3- subsets of self-peptide/MHC class II-specific CD4+ T cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108(35):14602-7 |
| abstractText | It is currently thought that T cells with specificity for self-peptide/MHC (pMHC) ligands are deleted during thymic development, thereby preventing autoimmunity. In the case of CD4(+) T cells, what is unclear is the extent to which self-peptide/MHC class II (pMHCII)-specific T cells are deleted or become Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells. We addressed this issue by characterizing a natural polyclonal pMHCII-specific CD4(+) T-cell population in mice that either lacked or expressed the relevant antigen in a ubiquitous pattern. Mice expressing the antigen contained one-third the number of pMHCII-specific T cells as mice lacking the antigen, and the remaining cells exhibited low TCR avidity. In mice lacking the antigen, the pMHCII-specific T-cell population was dominated by phenotypically naive Foxp3(-) cells, but also contained a subset of Foxp3(+) regulatory cells. Both Foxp3(-) and Foxp3(+) pMHCII-specific T-cell numbers were reduced in mice expressing the antigen, but the Foxp3(+) subset was more resistant to changes in number and TCR repertoire. Therefore, thymic selection of self-pMHCII-specific CD4(+) T cells results in incomplete deletion within the normal polyclonal repertoire, especially among regulatory T cells. |
