Iwashima M, Davis M M, Chien Y H
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, California 94305.
J Exp Med. 1991 Jul 1;174(1):293-6. doi: 10.1084/jem.174.1.293.
CD4 and CD8 have been useful surface markers for alpha/beta T cell maturation. In an alpha/beta T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic SCID mice system, it has been shown that alpha/beta TCR alone is sufficient to induce CD4 and CD8 surface expression on thymic T cells. Although the late embryonic thymic gamma/delta T cells are predominately single and double positive, it has not been clear if gamma/delta TCR has a similar capacity. In this study, we show that when transgenes encoding the earliest embryonic gamma/delta TCR are coexpressed with the SCID defect, the gamma/delta transgenes promote the appearance of both the CD4-8- and CD4+8+ T cells in the thymus. Furthermore, the expression of CD4 and CD8 does not require continuous surface gamma/delta TCR expression. These results indicate that gamma/delta TCR alone can promote the CD4/8 surface expression, and may suggest a role for gamma/delta T cells in initiating normal thymic ontogeny.
CD4和CD8一直是α/β T细胞成熟过程中有用的表面标志物。在一个α/β T细胞受体（TCR）转基因SCID小鼠系统中，已表明单独的α/β TCR足以诱导胸腺T细胞上CD4和CD8的表面表达。尽管胚胎晚期胸腺γ/δ T细胞主要为单阳性和双阳性，但γ/δ TCR是否具有类似能力尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们表明，当编码最早胚胎γ/δ TCR的转基因与SCID缺陷共同表达时，γ/δ转基因促进胸腺中CD4 - 8 -和CD4 + 8 + T细胞的出现。此外，CD4和CD8的表达不需要持续的表面γ/δ TCR表达。这些结果表明，单独的γ/δ TCR可以促进CD4/8的表面表达，并可能提示γ/δ T细胞在启动正常胸腺个体发生中发挥作用。
