| First Author | Serwold T | Year | 2007 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 179 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 928-38 |
| PubMed ID | 17617584 | Mgi Jnum | J:143006 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3822632 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.179.2.928 |
| Citation | Serwold T, et al. (2007) Early TCR expression and aberrant T cell development in mice with endogenous prerearranged T cell receptor genes. J Immunol 179(2):928-38 |
| abstractText | The factors that regulate the rate of production of T cells by the thymus remain incompletely defined. To test whether generation of functional T cell receptors limits the rate of thymic T cell export, we made use of a line of mice, LN3alphabeta, that have endogenously prerearranged TCR genes. The prerearranged TCR genes were expressed abnormally early in hemopoietic development, indicating that RAG-mediated recombination, rather than transcription factor expression, is the key determinant of the initiation of robust TCR transcription. Thymic T cell export rates were similar between wild-type (wt) and LN3alphabeta mice, indicating that T cell maturation rates in these mice are determined by factors other than TCR gene rearrangement. In competitive bone marrow chimeras, however, LN3alphabeta thymocytes were out-competed by wt cells and failed to develop beyond the double-negative 4 stage. Furthermore, wt progenitors transplanted intrathymically into LN3alphabeta mice proliferated excessively, suggesting that increased proliferative signals in the LN3alphabeta thymus compensate for faulty T cell development driven by early TCR expression. |
