| First Author | Gommeaux J | Year | 2009 |
| Journal | Eur J Immunol | Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 956-64 |
| PubMed ID | 19283781 | Mgi Jnum | J:148034 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3843400 | Doi | 10.1002/eji.200839175 |
| Citation | Gommeaux J, et al. (2009) Thymus-specific serine protease regulates positive selection of a subset of CD4+ thymocytes. Eur J Immunol 39(4):956-64 |
| abstractText | Thymus-specific serine protease (TSSP) was initially reported as a putative protease specifically expressed in the endosomal compartment of cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTEC). As such, TSSP is potentially involved in the presentation of the self-peptides that are bound to MHC class II molecules expressed at the cTEC surface and are involved in the positive selection of CD4(+) thymocytes. We tested this hypothesis by generating mutant mice deprived of Prss16, the gene encoding TSSP. TSSP-deficient mice produced normal numbers of T cells, despite a decrease in the percentage of cTEC expressing high surface levels of MHC class II. By using sensitive transgenic models expressing MHC class II-restricted TCR transgenes (Marilyn and OT-II), we showed that the absence of TSSP markedly impaired the selection of Marilyn and OT-II CD4(+) T cells. In contrast, selection of CD8(+) T cells expressing an MHC class I-restricted TCR transgene (OT-I) was unaffected. Therefore, TSSP is involved in the positive selection of some CD4(+) T lymphocytes and likely constitutes the first serine protease to play a function in the intrathymic presentation of self-peptides bound to MHC class II complexes. |
