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Growth of immature (double negative) rat thymocytes in the presence of IL-1

par Gotlieb, Walter ;Gusella, Luca;Takacs, Laszlo;Young, Howard H.A.;Durum, Scott S.K.
Référence The Journal of immunology, 144, 6, page (2072-2081)
Publication Publié, 1990-03

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

It is unclear which growth factors, if any, are involved in the growth and differentiation of immature T cells in the thymus. Because IL-1 has been previously implicated in thymocyte proliferation, we examined the effects of IL-1 on precursor thymocytes, the CD4-CD8- or double-negative (DN) cells. We show that IL-1 (together with Con A) is a growth factor for DN, TCR-αβ- cells in vitro. After 5 days of culture in IL-1 and Con A, a number of phenotypic changes were observed and two subsets of DN cells were distinguished. One subset expressed full length TCR-α and -β mRNA and surface αβ TCR, the other expressed low levels of full length TCR-γ together with high levels of full length TCR-δ mRNA. Thus, DN cells are induced by IL-1 and Con A to proliferate and express TCR without parallel acquisition of CD4 or CD8 markers. These data suggest that IL-1 drives early steps of intrathymic T cell differentiation.