Abnormal rearrangements of T-cell receptor genes occur in long-term cultured bone marrow cells of lpr/lpr mice.

To search the abnormality in prethymic T-cell precursors in lpr/lpr(lpr) mice, rearrangement and expression of T-cell receptor (TcR) genes were investigated in long-term cultured bone marrow (LTBM) cells of lpr mice, in which the developmental steps of T-cell precursors may be better synchronized than those in bone marrow (BM) cells. Neither rearrangment nor expression of TCR gamma and delta genes were detected in the LTBM cells from +/+ control mice, whereas some gamma gene rearrangements were detected in those derived from lpr mice, irrespective of the genetic background. When BM cells or LTBM cells from lpr mice were transplanted into supralethally irradiated +/+ mice the lpr-derived BM cells appeared earlier in the thymus of the recipient mice than +/+-derived BM cells and the recipients suffered from lethal wasting syndrome. In addition, the lpr-derived BM cells showed higher activity in colony-forming unit spleen (CFUs) than the +/+-derived BM cells. These results suggest that the T-cell progenitors in the BM of lpr mice may be different not only in quantity but also in quality from those of +/+ mice.