title: Expression of rearranged TCRgamma genes in natural killer cells suggests a minor thymus-dependent pathway of lineage commitment.
abstract: Natural killer (NK) cells are thought to develop from common lymphoid progenitors in the bone marrow. However, immature thymocytes also retain NK potential. Currently, the contribution of the thymus-dependent pathway in normal steady-state NK-cell development is unknown. Here, we show that TCRgamma genes are rearranged in approximately 5% of neonatal and 1% of adult mouse splenic NK cells, and similar levels are detected in NK cells from TCRbeta,delta double-knockout mice, excluding the possibility of T-cell contamination. NK-cell TCRgamma gene rearrangement is thymus dependent because this rearrangement is undetectable in nude mouse NK cells. These results change the current view of NK-cell development and show that a subset of NK cells develops from immature thymocytes that have rearranged TCRgamma genes.
authors.affiliation: Terry Fox Laboratory, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V5Z 1L3. ftakei@bccrc.ca.
authors.forename: Linnea Lora
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Veinotte
authors.forename: Chelsea Pamela
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Greenwood
authors.forename: Nastaran
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.forename: Christine Anna
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Parachoniak
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Takei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017931:DNA Primers; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D019674:Genes, T-Cell Receptor beta; D019675:Genes, T-Cell Receptor gamma; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers