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Thymocyte stimulation by anti‐TCR‐β, but not by anti‐TCR‐α, leads to induction of developmental transcription program
Author(s) -
Niederberger Nathalie,
Buehler Lukas K.,
Ampudia Jeanette,
Gascoigne Nicholas R. J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of leukocyte biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.819
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1938-3673
pISSN - 0741-5400
DOI - 10.1189/jlb.1004608
Subject(s) - t cell receptor , biology , thymocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , gene expression , t cell , signal transduction , stimulation , internalization , clonal deletion , gene , regulation of gene expression , transcription factor , receptor , immunology , genetics , endocrinology , immune system
Anti‐T cell receptor (aTCR) antibody (Ab) stimulation of T cells results in TCR down‐modulation and T cell activation. Differences in the effect of anti‐α‐chain and β‐chain Ab have been reported on thymocytes. Anti‐β‐chain Ab but not anti‐α‐chain reagents cause long‐term TCR down‐modulation. However, both types of Ab result in TCR cross‐linking and activate early steps in signal transduction. In this study, we show that TCR iternalization and calcium flux, hallmarks of T cell activation, are similar with aVα and aVβ treatment. Therefore, we have compared the gene expression profiles of preselection thymocytes stimulated with these reagents. We find that aVα treatment does not cause any significant change in gene expression compared with control culture conditions. In contrast, aVβ stimulation results in numerous changes in gene expression. The alterations of expression of genes known to be expressed in thymocytes are similar to changes caused by positive thymic selection, suggesting that the expression of some of the genes without known roles in thymocyte development and of novel genes whose expression is found to be altered may also be involved in this process.