Normal development and function of natural killer cells in CD3 epsilon delta 5/delta 5 mutant mice.
The CD3 epsilon polypeptide contributes to the cell surface display as well as to the signal transduction properties of the T-cell antigen receptor complex. Intriguingly, the distribution of CD3 epsilon is not restricted to T cells, since activated mouse, human, and avian natural killer (NK) cells do express intracytoplasmic CD3 epsilon polypeptides. CD3 epsilon is also present in the cytoplasm of fetal thymic T/NK bipotential progenitor cells, suggesting that it constitutes a component of the NK differentiation program. We report here that the genetic disruption of CD3 epsilon exon 5 alters neither NK cell development nor in vitro and in vivo NK functions, although it profoundly blocked T-cell development. These results support the notion that CD3 epsilon is dispensable for mouse NK cell ontogeny and function and further suggest that the common NK/T-cell progenitor cell utilizes CD3 epsilon as a mandatory component only when differentiating toward the T-cell lineage.
Renard
V
V
Centre d'Immunologie, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de Marseille-Luminy, Faculté de Luminy, France.
Ardouin
L
L
Malissen
M
M
Milon
G
G
Lebastard
M
M
Gillet
A
A
Malissen
B
B
Vivier
E
E
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000235:genetics*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D008088:Listeriosis / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology
D017252:CD3 Complex