Phenotypic characteristics of lymphoid populations of middle gestation human fetal liver, spleen and thymus.

Mononuclear cells isolated from liver, spleen and thymus of fetuses between 18 and 24 weeks gestational age were stained for a number of lymphoid cell markers by indirect immunofluorescence and analyzed by flow cytometry. Studies were carried out on freshly isolated mononuclear cell preparations and on cultured cells after selective expansion in interleukin 2 (IL2). Many mononuclear cells in fresh isolates of liver and spleen could not be identified with antibodies to mature T- and B-cell markers. An average of 3% of isolated liver cells and 34% of isolated spleen cells stained positively for CD3, and 19% of liver cells and 37% of spleen cells stained positively for CD20. Lymphoid cells of the fetal thymus were an average 67% CD3+, 76% CD4+, 84% CD8+, and showed greater CD45RO staining (93%) than mononuclear cells of other tissues. Propagation of liver and spleen cell populations in culture favored CD3 phenotypes and CD8 phenotypes. Propagated T cell populations of liver and spleen were primarily TCR alpha/beta+ (81% in liver, 85% in spleen), suggesting a selective advantage in IL2 expansion of alpha/beta T cells over gamma/delta T cells. Propagated gamma/delta T cells of liver and spleen were predominantly TCR gamma/delta 2+. Whereas propagated cells of liver and spleen consisted of approximately 10% gamma/delta+ cells, thymus-derived cells expanded in culture were only an average of 2% TCR gamma/delta+, demonstrating a rarity of IL2-responsive gamma/delta T cells in middle gestation fetal thymus.