Affiliation:
1. Department of Clinical Chemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
Abstract
Abstract
Notch signaling is absolutely required for β-selection during mouse T-cell development, both for differentiation and proliferation. In this report, we investigated whether Notch has an equally important role during human T-cell development. We show that human CD34+ thymocytes can differentiate into CD4+CD8β+ double positive (DP) thymocytes in the absence of Notch signaling. While these DP cells phenotypically resemble human β-selected cells, they lack a T-cell receptor (TCR)–β chain. Therefore, we characterized the β-selection checkpoint in human T-cell development, using CD28 as a differential marker at the immature single positive CD4+CD3−CD8α− stage. Through intracellular TCR-β staining and gene expression analysis, we show that CD4+CD3−CD8α−CD28+ thymocytes have passed the β-selection checkpoint, in contrast to CD4+CD3−CD8α−CD28− cells. These CD4+CD3−CD8α−CD28+ thymocytes can efficiently differentiate into CD3+TCRαβ+ human T cells in the absence of Notch signaling. Importantly, preselection CD4+CD3−CD8α−CD28− thymocytes can also differentiate into CD3+TCRαβ+ human T cells without Notch activation when provided with a rearranged TCR-β chain. Proliferation of human thymocytes, however, is clearly Notch-dependent. Thus, we have characterized the β-selection checkpoint during human T-cell development and show that human thymocytes require Notch signaling for proliferation but not for differentiation at this stage of development.
Publisher
American Society of Hematology
Subject
Cell Biology,Hematology,Immunology,Biochemistry
Cited by
66 articles.
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