title: Important functional roles of basigin in thymocyte development and T cell activation.
abstract: Basigin is a highly glycosylated transmembrane protein that is expressed in a broad range of tissues and is involved in a number of physiological and pathological processes. However, the in vivo role of basigin remains unknown. To better understand the physiological and pathological functions of basigin in vivo, we generated a conditional null allele by introducing two loxP sites flanking exons 2 and 7 of the basigin gene (Bsg). Bsg(fl/fl) mice were born at the expected Mendelian ratio and showed a similar growth rate compared with wildtype mice. After crossing these mice with Lck-Cre transgenic mice, basigin expression was specifically inactivated in T cells in the resulting Lck-Cre; Bsg(fl/fl) mice. Although the birth and growth rate of Lck-Cre; Bsg(fl/fl) mice were similar to control mice, thymus development was partially arrested in Lck-Cre; Bsg(fl/fl) mice, specifically at the CD4(+)CD8(+) double-positive (DP) and CD4 single-positive (CD4(+)CD8(-), CD4SP) stages. In addition, CD4(+) T cell activation was enhanced upon Concanavalin A (Con A) or anti-CD3/anti-CD28 stimulation but not upon PMA/Ionomycin stimulation in the absence of basigin. Overall, this study provided the first in vivo evidence for the function of basigin in thymus development. Moreover, the successful generation of the conditional null basigin allele provides a useful tool for the study of distinct physiological or pathological functions of basigin in different tissues at different development stages.
authors.affiliation: 1. Cell Engineering Research Centre & Department of Cell Biology, State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, 169 West Changle Street, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: 2. Genetic Laboratory of Development and Disease, Institute of Biotechnology, 20 Dongdajie, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: 1. Cell Engineering Research Centre & Department of Cell Biology, State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, 169 West Changle Street, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: 1. Cell Engineering Research Centre & Department of Cell Biology, State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, 169 West Changle Street, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: 1. Cell Engineering Research Centre & Department of Cell Biology, State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, 169 West Changle Street, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Tong
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: 2. Genetic Laboratory of Development and Disease, Institute of Biotechnology, 20 Dongdajie, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: 2. Genetic Laboratory of Development and Disease, Institute of Biotechnology, 20 Dongdajie, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: 2. Genetic Laboratory of Development and Disease, Institute of Biotechnology, 20 Dongdajie, Fengtai District, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: 1. Cell Engineering Research Centre & Department of Cell Biology, State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, 169 West Changle Street, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Nan
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D051926:Basigin / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D017931:DNA Primers; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D060168:Thymocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D051926:Basigin
keywords: Basigin; Cre-Loxp; T cell activation; gene targeting; thymocyte development