Fulltext

Constitutive expression of the pre-TCR enables development of mature T cells

Schnell, Silke ; Démollière, Corinne ; van den Berk, Paul ; Kirberg, Joerg ; Jacobs, Heinz

In: International Immunology, 2006, vol. 18, no. 6, p. 911-920

Aggiungi alla tua lista
    Titre
    • Constitutive expression of the pre-TCR enables development of mature T cells
    Auteur
    • Schnell, Silke. Division of Immunology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Démollière, Corinne. Department of Immunology, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
    • van den Berk, Paul. Division of Immunology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Kirberg, Joerg. Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology, 79108 Freiburg, Germany
    • Jacobs, Heinz. Division of Immunology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Inglese
    Publié dans
    • International Immunology, 2006, vol. 18, no. 6, p. 911-920. Oxford University Press
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:304502
    Summary
    Expression and signalling through the pre-TCR and the TCRαβ resemble two critical checkpoints during T cell development. We investigated to which extent a pre-TCR can functionally replace mature TCRα chains during T cell development. For this purpose, transgenic mice were generated expressing the pre-TCRα (pTα) under the transcriptional control of TCRβ regulatory elements. We report here on the interesting finding that constitutive pTα expression allows complete T cell maturation. The pre-TCR complex permits a subset of β-selected thymocytes to mature in the absence of TCRα into peripheral T cells (βT cells) comprising up to 10% of all lymphocytes. Lymphopenia-driven proliferation of these βT cells is similar to that of conventional αβT cells. Furthermore, βT cells proliferated and acquired effector function upon stimulation with allogeneic MHC