title: Significant involvement of nuclear factor-κB-inducing kinase in proper differentiation of αβ and γδ T cells.
abstract: Nuclear factor-κB-inducing kinase (NIK) is known to play a critical role in maintaining proper immune function. This is exemplified in the spontaneous mutant mouse lacking functional NIK, alymphoplasia (aly), which is simultaneously immune-compromised and autoimmune-prone. To investigate the role of NIK in αβ T-cell repertoire formation, we analysed T-cell development in aly/aly mice bearing a transgenic T-cell receptor (TCR). Although there were no apparent abnormalities in the mature αβ T cells of non-transgenic aly/aly mice, the maturation efficiency of idiotype(high+) T cells in the TCR-transgenic mice was lower in aly/aly mice compared with those found in aly/+ mice, suggesting that the mature αβ T-cell repertoire could be altered by the absence of functional NIK. In one strain of TCR-transgenic aly/aly mice with a negatively selecting H-2 background, the proportion of CD8(low+) idiotype(high+) cells, which are thought to potentially represent the γδ lineage of T cells, was markedly decreased. When the γδ T cells in non-transgenic aly/aly mice were investigated, the proportion of γδ T cells in the peripheral organs of aly/aly mice was found to be one-half to one-fifth of those in aly/+ mice. Analyses of bone marrow chimera mice indicated that NIK in host cells, rather than in donor cells was important for generating a normal number of peripheral γδ T cells. Collectively, these results suggest that NIK could be involved in thymic positive selection of some αβ T cells and that NIK in non-haematopoietic cells is important for the optimal development and/or maintenance of γδ T cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eshima
authors.forename: Motohito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kajiura
authors.forename: Haruka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Noma
authors.forename: Nobukata
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shinohara
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwabuchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000032:analysis*; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000032:analysis*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D000097782:NF-kappaB-Inducing Kinase
chemical_list: D007371:Interferon-gamma; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta; D000097782:NF-kappaB-Inducing Kinase
keywords: T-cell receptor-transgenic mouse; nuclear factor-κB-inducing kinase; repertoire formation