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Characterization of CD4 + CD8 + thymocytes observed in SClD‐ bg mice
Author(s) -
Shibata S,
Asano T,
Noguchi A,
Kimura H,
Hashimoto N,
Hayakawa J,
Ogura A,
Doi K
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
immunology and cell biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0818-9641
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1997.73
Subject(s) - thymocyte , t cell receptor , cd8 , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , t lymphocyte , cd3 , double negative , population , antigen , t cell , chemistry , immunology , immune system , medicine , environmental health
Previously, we reported that a strain of severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, namely SCID‐ bg , spontaneously develop CD4 + CD8 + double positive (DP) thymocytes despite their scid mutation. In the present study, we intend to further characterize the DP thymocyte population in SCID‐ bg mice with Southern hybridization and flow cytometry. Southern hybridization analyses of sorted DP thymocytes in SCID‐β mice showed rearrangement of T cell receptor (TCR) β and TCRγ gene segments, although the expression of TCRβ and γδTCR molecules was absent. The phenotype of the DP thymocytes in SCID‐ bg mice was CD44 − heat‐stable antigen (HSA) + CD25 − , and they did not express CD69. Interestingly, the expression of thymus leukaemia (TL) antigen was observed in the DP thymocytes of SCID‐ bg mice but not in their CD4 CDS double negative (DN) fraction. Fas expression was higher and bcl‐2 expression was down‐regulated in the DP thymocytes as compared to the DN thymocytes in SCID‐ bg mice, suggesting that they are not immortalized cells having escaped from apoptosis. Taken together, these results show that the phenotype of the DP thymocytes in SCID‐ bg mice is similar to that of the earliest phase of the DP thymocytes in normal mice, although the expression of the molecules in the pre‐TCR complex is absent.