Gotlieb W H, Takacs L, Young H A, Gusella L, Durum S K
Program Resources Inc., NCI-Frederick Cancer Research Facility, MD.
J Immunol. 1990 Mar 15;144(6):2072-81.
It is unclear which growth factors, if any, are involved in the growth and differentiation of immature T cells in the thymus. Because IL-1 has been previously implicated in thymocyte proliferation, we examined the effects of IL-1 on precursor thymocytes, the CD4-CD8- or double-negative (DN) cells. We show that IL-1 (together with Con A) is a growth factor for DN, TCR- alpha beta-cells in vitro. After 5 days of culture in IL-1 and Con A, a number of phenotypic changes were observed and two subsets of DN cells were distinguished. One subset expressed full length TCR-alpha and -beta mRNA and surface alpha beta TCR, the other expressed low levels of full length TCR-gamma together with high levels of full length TCR-delta mRNA. Thus, DN cells are induced by IL-1 and Con A to proliferate and express TCR without parallel acquisition of CD4 or CD8 markers. These data suggest that IL-1 drives early steps of intrathymic T cell differentiation.
目前尚不清楚是否有生长因子参与胸腺中未成熟T细胞的生长和分化。由于白细胞介素-1（IL-1）此前被认为与胸腺细胞增殖有关，我们研究了IL-1对前体胸腺细胞（即CD4-CD8-或双阴性（DN）细胞）的影响。我们发现，IL-1（与刀豆蛋白A（Con A）一起）在体外是DN、TCR-αβ细胞的生长因子。在IL-1和Con A中培养5天后，观察到一些表型变化，并区分出两个DN细胞亚群。一个亚群表达全长TCR-α和-β mRNA以及表面αβ TCR，另一个亚群表达低水平的全长TCR-γ以及高水平的全长TCR-δ mRNA。因此，IL-1和Con A诱导DN细胞增殖并表达TCR，而不会同时获得CD4或CD8标记。这些数据表明，IL-1驱动胸腺内T细胞分化的早期步骤。
