title: Human thymic epithelial cells inhibit IL-15- and IL-2-driven differentiation of NK cells from the early human thymic progenitors.
abstract: T/NK progenitors are present in the thymus; however, the thymus predominantly promotes T cell development. In this study, we demonstrated that human thymic epithelial cells (TEC) inhibit NK cell development. Most ex vivo human thymocytes express CD1a, indicating that thymic progenitors are predominantly committed to the T cell lineage. In contrast, the CD1a(-)CD3(-)CD56(+) NK population comprises only 0.2% (n = 7) of thymocytes. However, we observed increases in the percentage (20- to 25-fold) and absolute number (13- to 71-fold) of NK cells when thymocytes were cultured with mixtures of either IL-2, IL-7, and stem cell factor or IL-15, IL-7, and stem cell factor. TEC, when present in the cultures, inhibited the increases in the percentage (3- to 10-fold) and absolute number (3- to 25-fold) of NK cells. Furthermore, we show that TEC-derived soluble factors inhibit generation of NK-CFU and inhibit IL15- or IL2-driven NK cell differentiation from thymic CD34(+) triple-negative thymocytes. The inhibitory activity was found to be associated with a 8,000- to 30,000 Da fraction. Thus, our data demonstrate that TEC inhibit NK cell development from T/NK CD34(+) triple negative progenitors via soluble factor(s), suggesting that the human thymic microenvironment not only actively promotes T cell maturation but also controls the development of non-T lineage cells such as the NK lineage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy and the Program in Immunology for Aging, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago Medical Center, Maywood, IL 60153, USA. ple@lumc.edu
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zaya
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Mathews
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Storkus
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018952:Antigens, CD34; D017252:CD3 Complex; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D019409:Interleukin-15; D007376:Interleukin-2