| First Author | Grassi F | Year | 1999 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 162 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 2589-96 |
| PubMed ID | 10072500 | Mgi Jnum | J:111650 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3654616 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.162.5.2589 |
| Citation | Grassi F, et al. (1999) Surface expression and functional competence of CD3-independent TCR zeta-chains in immature thymocytes. J Immunol 162(5):2589-96 |
| abstractText | In recombinase-deficient (RAG-2-/-) mice, double-negative thymocytes can be stimulated to proliferate and differentiate by anti-CD3 Abs. CD3 molecules are expressed on the surface of these cells in association with calnexin. In this study, we show that zeta-chains can be recovered as phosphorylated proteins in association with phosphorylated ZAP-70 from anti-CD3-stimulated RAG-2-/- thymocytes, even though they are not demonstrably associated with the CD3/calnexin complex. The lack of a physical association of zeta dimers with the CD3 complex in RAG-2-/- thymocytes and also in a pre-TCR-expressing cell line, as well as the efficient association of zeta dimers with ZAP-70 in the RAG-2-/- thymocytes, suggest that these zeta-chain dimers could contribute to pre-TCR signaling. This idea is supported by the finding that in RAG-2-/- zeta-deficient thymocytes, ZAP-70 and p120cbl were only weakly phosphorylated. |
