von Boehmer H, Crisanti A, Kisielow P, Haas W
Nature. 1985;314(6011):539-40. doi: 10.1038/314539a0.
The growth of mature T cells is regulated by receptors for interleukin-2 (IL-2) and by IL-2 itself. Binding of antigen to T-cell antigen receptors induces the expression of IL-2 receptors, and binding of IL-2 to these receptors induces transferrin receptor expression and is sufficient to promote the growth of T cells for several days. However, nothing is known about the growth requirements of pre-T cells. We have therefore studied the dividing population of T-cell precursors which carry the Thy-1 surface antigen, but lack surface antigens Ly2 and L3T4; these cells are present in 14-day-old embryonic thymus. If the thymus is removed at this stage and placed in organ culture, all lymphocyte subpopulations normally present in thymuses of adult mice develop in vitro, that is, the nonfunctional Ly2+, L3T4+ population and the functional Ly2+, L3T4- and Ly2-, L3T4+ populations. We now report that, in contrast to their progeny, the early Ly2-, L3T4- cells express large amounts of IL-2 receptors, but most of them do not grow in IL-2-containing media outside the thymus. In contrast to dividing mature T cells, most fetal thymocytes express low amounts of transferrin receptors.
成熟T细胞的生长受白细胞介素-2（IL-2）受体和IL-2自身的调节。抗原与T细胞抗原受体的结合诱导IL-2受体的表达，而IL-2与这些受体的结合诱导转铁蛋白受体的表达，并且足以促进T细胞生长数天。然而，对于前T细胞的生长需求却一无所知。因此，我们研究了携带Thy-1表面抗原但缺乏表面抗原Ly2和L3T4的T细胞前体的分裂群体；这些细胞存在于14日龄的胚胎胸腺中。如果在此阶段切除胸腺并置于器官培养中，成年小鼠胸腺中正常存在的所有淋巴细胞亚群都会在体外发育，即无功能的Ly2 +、L3T4 +群体以及有功能的Ly2 +、L3T4 -和Ly2 -、L3T4 +群体。我们现在报告，与它们的后代相反，早期的Ly2 -、L3T4 -细胞表达大量的IL-2受体，但它们中的大多数在胸腺外含IL-2的培养基中不生长。与分裂的成熟T细胞相反，大多数胎儿胸腺细胞表达少量的转铁蛋白受体。
