TY - JOUR
T1 - T cell lineage determination precedes the initiation of TCRβ gene rearrangement
AU - Masuda, Kyoko
AU - Kakugawa, Kiyokazu
AU - Nakayama, Toshinori
AU - Minato, Nagahiro
AU - Katsura, Yoshimoto
AU - Kawamoto, Hiroshi
PY - 2007/9/15
Y1 - 2007/9/15
N2 - Loss of dendritic cell potential is one of the major events in intrathymic T cell development, during which the progenitors become determined to the T cell lineage. However, it remains unclear whether this event occurs in synchrony with another important event, TCRβ chain gene rearrangement, which has been considered the definitive sign of irreversible T cell lineage commitment. To address this issue, we used transgenic mice in which GFP expression is controlled by the lck proximal promoter. We found that the double-negative (DN) 2 stage can be subdivided into GFP- and GFP+ populations, representing functionally different developmental stages in that the GFP -DN2, but not GFP+DN2, cells retain dendritic cell potential. The GFP+DN2 cells were found to undergo several rounds of proliferation before the initiation of TCRβ rearrangement as evidenced by the diversity of D-Jβ rearrangements seen in T cells derived from a single GFP+DN2 progenitor. These results indicated that the determination step of progenitors to the T cell lineage is a separable event from TCRβ rearrangement.
AB - Loss of dendritic cell potential is one of the major events in intrathymic T cell development, during which the progenitors become determined to the T cell lineage. However, it remains unclear whether this event occurs in synchrony with another important event, TCRβ chain gene rearrangement, which has been considered the definitive sign of irreversible T cell lineage commitment. To address this issue, we used transgenic mice in which GFP expression is controlled by the lck proximal promoter. We found that the double-negative (DN) 2 stage can be subdivided into GFP- and GFP+ populations, representing functionally different developmental stages in that the GFP -DN2, but not GFP+DN2, cells retain dendritic cell potential. The GFP+DN2 cells were found to undergo several rounds of proliferation before the initiation of TCRβ rearrangement as evidenced by the diversity of D-Jβ rearrangements seen in T cells derived from a single GFP+DN2 progenitor. These results indicated that the determination step of progenitors to the T cell lineage is a separable event from TCRβ rearrangement.
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U2 - 10.4049/jimmunol.179.6.3699
DO - 10.4049/jimmunol.179.6.3699
M3 - Article
C2 - 17785806
AN - SCOPUS:35748931463
SN - 0022-1767
VL - 179
SP - 3699
EP - 3706
JO - Journal of Immunology
JF - Journal of Immunology
IS - 6
ER -