de Villartay J P, Mossalayi D, de Chasseval R, Dalloul A, Debré P
Laboratoire d'Immunologie et Rhumatologie pédiatrique (INSERM U132), Hôpital Necker-Enfants-Malades, Paris, France.
Int Immunol. 1991 Dec;3(12):1301-5. doi: 10.1093/intimm/3.12.1301.
The nested location of the TCR-delta gene within the TCR-alpha locus is a common feature of both mouse and human. Yet alpha/beta and gamma/delta T cells represent two separate lineages. We have previously proposed that a specific rearrangement event (delta Rec--psi J alpha) resulting in the specific deletion of the TCR-delta gene could be responsible for the independent usage of these two loci. We used an in vitro model of T cell differentiation to test this hypothesis. We show that in culture conditions (IL-1 + sCD23) which promote the development of alpha/beta expressing T cells exclusively, the specific deletion of the TCR-delta locus occurs very rapidly, probably before the productive rearrangement of the TCR-alpha gene. These results clearly demonstrate that the specific deletion of the TCR-delta gene could be the initial regulatory event that imprints the irreversible commitment of T cell differentiation along the alpha/beta pathway.
