title: Constitutive activation of NF-kB in human thymocytes.
abstract: NF-kB is a eukaryotic transcription regulatory factor. In T cells and T cell lines, NF-kB is bound to a cytoplasmic proteic inhibitor, the IkB. Treatment of T cells with mitogens (phorbol esters) or cytokines (TNF alpha) induces NF-kB nuclear translocation and the subsequent expression of NF-kB dependent T cell genes. Here we examined the activation of NF-kB in human T cell thymic progenitors. We report differences in (Ca2+)i requirement for NF-kB activation in thymocytes as compared to mature T cells. Furthermore, our results indicated that thymocytes have a constitutively active form of NF-kB, suggesting that they are activated in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Immunologie, CNRS URA 625, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Körner
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tarantino
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Debré
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D002460:Cell Line; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism*; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate / Q000494:pharmacology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016328:NF-kappa B; D009698:Nucleoproteins; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate