Shortman K, Wilson A, Egerton M, Pearse M, Scollay R
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Cell Immunol. 1988 May;113(2):462-79. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(88)90042-1.
Mature thymocytes are usually defined and separated from other less mature thymocytes on the basis of their mutually exclusive expression of either CD4 or CD8. However, such murine "single positives" include a subpopulation of immature cells with properties resembling CD4- CD8- thymocytes or CD4+ CD8+ cortical blasts. Most of these immature single positives are CD4- CD8+, some expressing relatively low levels of CD8. They are large, dividing cortisone-sensitive cells found in the outer cortex. They express high levels of the heat-stable antigen (recognized by the monoclonals M1/69, B2A2, and J11d) but they are MEL-14-. The absence of detectable surface CD3, the absence of alpha-chain messenger RNA, and the predominance of the truncated form of the beta-chain messenger RNA all indicate that they do not express the T-cell antigen-receptor complex. Strategies for eliminating such immature cells from preparations of mature thymocytes are given, and their developmental significance is discussed.
成熟胸腺细胞通常根据其相互排斥地表达CD4或CD8来定义，并与其他不太成熟的胸腺细胞区分开来。然而，这类小鼠“单阳性”细胞包括一群具有类似于CD4-CD8-胸腺细胞或CD4+CD8+皮质母细胞特性的未成熟细胞。这些未成熟单阳性细胞大多数是CD4-CD8+，有些表达相对较低水平的CD8。它们是在外皮质发现的大的、正在分裂的对皮质酮敏感的细胞。它们高水平表达热稳定抗原（可被单克隆抗体M1/69、B2A2和J11d识别），但它们是MEL-14-。未检测到表面CD3、缺乏α链信使核糖核酸以及β链信使核糖核酸截短形式占优势，所有这些都表明它们不表达T细胞抗原受体复合物。文中给出了从成熟胸腺细胞制剂中清除这类未成熟细胞的策略，并讨论了它们的发育意义。
