title: Co-ordinate expression of the pre-T-cell receptor complex and a novel immature thymocyte-specific antigen, IMT-1, during thymocyte development.
abstract: Previously we described a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that reacted with a cell-surface antigen, immature thymocyte antigen-1 (IMT-1), which is expressed on thymocytes of late CD4- CD8- (double negative) to early CD4+ CD8+ (double positive) differentiation stages. In this study, we investigated the expression of IMT-1 on various cell lineages in thymus as well as in peripheral lymphoid organs. We found that IMT-1 is expressed on T-cell receptor (TCR)-betalo and TCR-deltalo thymocytes, but not on TCR-betahi, TCR-deltahi or natural killer (NK)1.1+ thymocytes, or on peripheral alpha beta or gamma delta T cells. We also investigated the kinetics of expression of IMT-1 during fetal thymocyte development and compared it with the expression of the pre-TCR complex, comprising CD3, pre-TCR-alpha (pTalpha) and TCR-beta. We found that expression of both was similar, starting at day 14.5 of gestation, peaking on day 16.5 and gradually decreasing thereafter. Furthermore, the expression of both IMT-1 and pTalpha was drastically reduced when DN thymocytes in recombination activating gene (RAG)-2-/- mice were challenged in vivo with anti-CD3 mAb. These results indicate that IMT-1 is expressed on not only immature thymocytes of alpha beta T-cell lineage but also on those of gamma delta T-cell lineage, and that the expression of IMT-1 and the pre-TCR complex is co-ordinately regulated during the alpha beta lineage thymocyte development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Toyama, Japan.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muraguchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000494:pharmacology; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000276:immunology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D017260:Receptor-CD3 Complex, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000378:metabolism*; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000196:embryology* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D015415:Biomarkers; D017252:CD3 Complex; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D017260:Receptor-CD3 Complex, Antigen, T-Cell; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta; C120077:immature thymocyte-specific antigen, IMT-1; C064658:RAG-1 protein