Gamma delta T cells promote CD4 and CD8 expression by SCID thymocytes.
Molecular studies of the gamma delta TCR, which is expressed by a minor subpopulation of T lymphocytes in all vertebrate species, have defined a subset which expresses a receptor with extreme junctional diversity and a second subset, most commonly found in epithelia, which expresses a receptor of very limited diversity. In the developing murine thymus, gamma delta T cells appear in an ordered sequence of specific V rearrangements, V gamma 3V delta 1 on day 14, V gamma 2V delta 1 on day 17, and subsequently V gamma 4V delta 5, V delta 6, or V delta 7. We demonstrate that the transfer of expanded populations of gamma delta cells from newborn thymus and cell lines expressing the invariant V gamma 3V delta 1 receptor into SCID mice, which lack T and B cells, results in the appearance of CD3-CD4+CD8+ thymocytes. Thus, one role of the early appearing V gamma 3V delta 1 T cells in thymic development in vivo is to promote CD4 and CD8 surface expression on precursor cells.
Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
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Lynch
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Shevach
D000818:Animals; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000032:analysis*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta