| First Author | Kenai H | Year | 1993 |
| Journal | Eur J Immunol | Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 8 | Pages | 1818-25 |
| PubMed ID | 8344343 | Mgi Jnum | J:14168 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:62342 | Doi | 10.1002/eji.1830230813 |
| Citation | Kenai H, et al. (1993) Thymus-derived cytokine(s) including interleukin-7 induce increase of T cell receptor alpha/beta+ CD4-CD8- T cells which are extrathymically differentiated in athymic nude mice. Eur J Immunol 23(8):1818-25 |
| abstractText | Extrathymic T cell differentiation pathways have been reported, although the thymus is the main site of T cell differentiation. The thymus is also known to produce several cytokines that induce proliferation of thymocytes. In the present study, we investigated the influence of thymus-derived cytokines on extrathymic T cell differentiation by intraperitoneal implantation with a diffusion chamber which encloses fetal thymus (we named it fetal thymus-enclosed diffusion chamber, FTEDC) in athymic BALB/c nu/nu mice. Increase in number of T cells bearing T cell receptor (TcR) alpha/beta was detected in lymph nodes and spleens of FTEDC-implanted nude mice 1 week after implantation, whereas no such increase was detected in control nude mice implanted with a diffusion chamber without thymus. The FTEDC-induced increase of T cells was suppressed by intraperitoneal injection of anti-interleukin-7 monoclonal antibody (mAb). The TcR alpha/beta T cells in FTEDC-implanted BALB/c nu/nu mice preferentially expressed V beta 11, although V beta 11-positive T cells are deleted in the thymus of euthymic BALB/c mice by clonal elimination of self-super-antigen Dvb11-specific T cells. TcR alpha/beta T cells in FTEDC-implanted nude mice were of CD4-CD8- phenotype and showed no proliferative response against anti-TcR monoclonal antibody stimulation. These results suggest that the thymus can induce extrathymic T cell differentiation through the influence of thymus-derived cytokine(s) including interleukin-7, and that such extrathymically differentiated T cells have acquired only a little or no ability for proliferation when they recognize antigen by their TcR. |
