| First Author | Lacorazza HD | Year | 2004 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 173 |
| Issue | 9 | Pages | 5591-600 |
| PubMed ID | 15494509 | Mgi Jnum | J:132808 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3776976 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.173.9.5591 |
| Citation | Lacorazza HD, et al. (2004) Exclusion and inclusion of TCR alpha proteins during T cell development in TCR-transgenic and normal mice. J Immunol 173(9):5591-600 |
| abstractText | Allelic exclusion of immune receptor genes (and molecules) is incompletely understood. With regard to TCRalphabeta lineage T cells, exclusion at the tcr-b, but not tcr-a, locus seems to be strictly controlled at the locus rearrangement level. Consequently, while nearly all developing TCRalphabeta thymocytes express a single TCRbeta protein, many thymocytes rearrange and express two different TCRalpha chains and, thus, display two alphabetaTCRs on the cell surface. Of interest, the number of such dual TCR-expressing cells is appreciably lower among the mature T cells. To understand the details of TCR chain regulation at various stages of T cell development, we analyzed TCR expression in mice transgenic for two rearranged alphabetaTCR. We discovered that in such TCR double-transgenic (TCRdTg) mice peripheral T cells were functionally monospecific. Molecularly, this monospecificity was due to TCRalpha exclusion: one transgenic TCRalpha protein was selectively down-regulated from the thymocyte and T cell surface. In searching for the mechanism(s) governing this selective TCRalpha down-regulation, we present evidence for the role of protein tyrosine kinase signaling and coreceptor involvement. This mechanism may be operating in normal thymocytes. |
