In vivo tracking of T cell development, ablation, and engraftment in transgenic zebrafish.
Transgenic zebrafish that express GFP under control of the T cell-specific tyrosine kinase (lck) promoter were used to analyze critical aspects of the immune system, including patterns of T cell development and T cell homing after transplant. GFP-labeled T cells could be ablated in larvae by either irradiation or dexamethasone added to the water, illustrating that T cells have evolutionarily conserved responses to chemical and radiation ablation. In transplant experiments, thymocytes from lck-GFP fish repopulated the thymus of irradiated wild-type fish only transiently, suggesting that the thymus contains only short-term thymic repopulating cells. By contrast, whole kidney marrow permanently reconstituted the T lymphoid compartment of irradiated wild-type fish, suggesting that long-term thymic repopulating cells reside in the kidney.
Langenau
David M
DM
Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115.
Ferrando
Adolfo A
AA
Traver
David
D
Kutok
Jeffery L
JL
Hezel
John-Paul D
JP
Kanki
John P
JP
Zon
Leonard I
LI
Look
A Thomas
AT
Trede
Nikolaus S
NS
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified / Q000276:immunology*; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000276:immunology*
D003907:Dexamethasone