Heterogeneity of thymic epithelial cells in promoting T-lymphocyte differentiation in vivo - PubMed (original) (raw)

Heterogeneity of thymic epithelial cells in promoting T-lymphocyte differentiation in vivo

J C Gutierrez et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991.

Abstract

To study in vivo the contribution of different thymic epithelial cells to T-lymphocyte differentiation, we have established several nontransformed thymic epithelial cell lines and developed an in vivo assay, not involving exposure to drugs or radiation, that permitted us to study the capacity of these epithelial lines to support T-cell differentiation. We found that cell lines EA2 and ET, which express markers of cortical epithelial cells, produce interleukin 7 mRNA and after being injected into the spleens of young athymic nude mice support in vivo generation of CD4+CD8- T-cell receptor alpha beta+ T lymphocytes (ET line) or both CD4+CD8- and CD4-CD8+ T-cell receptor alpha beta+ T cells (EA2 line). Both cell lines also supported generation of T-cell receptor gamma delta+ T cells but appear not to support development of double-positive (CD4+CD8+) cells. One cell line, EB3, which expresses markers of medullary epithelial cells, produces interleukin 1 alpha RNA transcripts but does not support T-lymphocyte differentiation. The results provide direct evidence for functional heterogeneity of thymic epithelial cells in vivo and show the involvement of different cortical epithelial cells in the differentiation of T-cell progenitors into distinct thymocyte subsets.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

• Detailed characterization of gamma delta T cells within the organs in mice: classification into three groups.
  Sato K, Ohtsuka K, Watanabe H, Asakura H, Abo T. Sato K, et al. Immunology. 1993 Nov;80(3):380-7. Immunology. 1993. PMID: 8288314 Free PMC article.
• T lymphocyte development in the absence of Fc epsilon receptor I gamma subunit: analysis of thymic-dependent and independent alpha beta and gamma delta pathways.
  Heiken H, Schulz RJ, Ravetch JV, Reinherz EL, Koyasu S. Heiken H, et al. Eur J Immunol. 1996 Aug;26(8):1935-43. doi: 10.1002/eji.1830260839. Eur J Immunol. 1996. PMID: 8765042
• Thymic epithelial cells induce in vitro differentiation of PRO-T lymphocyte clones into TCR alpha,beta/T3+ and TCR gamma,delta/T3+ cells.
  Palacios R, Studer S, Samaridis J, Pelkonen J. Palacios R, et al. EMBO J. 1989 Dec 20;8(13):4053-63. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb08589.x. EMBO J. 1989. PMID: 2591368 Free PMC article.
• Thymic generation and regeneration.
  Gill J, Malin M, Sutherland J, Gray D, Hollander G, Boyd R. Gill J, et al. Immunol Rev. 2003 Oct;195:28-50. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-065x.2003.00077.x. Immunol Rev. 2003. PMID: 12969308 Review.

Cited by

• Foxn1 regulates lineage progression in cortical and medullary thymic epithelial cells but is dispensable for medullary sublineage divergence.
  Nowell CS, Bredenkamp N, Tetélin S, Jin X, Tischner C, Vaidya H, Sheridan JM, Stenhouse FH, Heussen R, Smith AJ, Blackburn CC. Nowell CS, et al. PLoS Genet. 2011 Nov;7(11):e1002348. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002348. Epub 2011 Nov 3. PLoS Genet. 2011. PMID: 22072979 Free PMC article.
• Overexpression of interleukin (IL)-7 leads to IL-15-independent generation of memory phenotype CD8+ T cells.
  Kieper WC, Tan JT, Bondi-Boyd B, Gapin L, Sprent J, Ceredig R, Surh CD. Kieper WC, et al. J Exp Med. 2002 Jun 17;195(12):1533-9. doi: 10.1084/jem.20020067. J Exp Med. 2002. PMID: 12070281 Free PMC article.
• Putative prethymic T cell precursors within the early human embryonic liver: a molecular and functional analysis.
  Sánchez MJ, Gutiérrez-Ramos JC, Fernández E, Leonardo E, Lozano J, Martínez C, Toribio ML. Sánchez MJ, et al. J Exp Med. 1993 Jan 1;177(1):19-33. doi: 10.1084/jem.177.1.19. J Exp Med. 1993. PMID: 8418199 Free PMC article.
• Alterations of thymus cortical epithelium and interdigitating dendritic cells but no increase of thymocyte cell death in the early course of simian immunodeficiency virus infection.
  Müller JG, Krenn V, Schindler C, Czub S, Stahl-Hennig C, Coulibaly C, Hunsmann G, Kneitz C, Kerkau T, Rethwilm A, et al. Müller JG, et al. Am J Pathol. 1993 Sep;143(3):699-713. Am J Pathol. 1993. PMID: 8362972 Free PMC article.
• At day 8-8.5 of mouse development the yolk sac, not the embryo proper, has lymphoid precursor potential in vivo and in vitro.
  Palacios R, Imhof BA. Palacios R, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Jul 15;90(14):6581-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.14.6581. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993. PMID: 8341672 Free PMC article.

References

1. 1. Eur J Immunol. 1984 Jul;14(7):599-605 - PubMed
2. 1. Eur J Immunol. 1984 Jun;14(6):524-9 - PubMed
3. 1. Nature. 1985 Feb 14-20;313(6003):592-5 - PubMed
4. 1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Jan;82(1):68-72 - PubMed
5. 1. Nature. 1985 Oct 31-Nov 6;317(6040):811-3 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources

• Full Text Sources

  • Atypon
  • Europe PubMed Central
  • PubMed Central

• Research Materials

  • NCI CPTC Antibody Characterization Program