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A thymic pathway of mouse natural killer cell development characterized by expression of GATA-3 and CD127

Nature Immunology volume 7, pages 1217–1224 (2006)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 December 2006

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Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cell development is thought to occur in the bone marrow. Here we identify the transcription factor GATA-3 and CD127 (IL-7Rα) as molecular markers of a pathway of mouse NK cell development that originates in the thymus. Thymus-derived CD127+ NK cells repopulated peripheral lymphoid organs, and their homeostasis was strictly dependent on GATA-3 and interleukin 7. The CD127+ NK cells had a distinct phenotype (CD11bloCD16−CD69hiLy49lo) and unusual functional attributes, including reduced cytotoxicity but considerable cytokine production. Those characteristics are reminiscent of human CD56hiCD16− NK cells, which we found expressed CD127 and had more GATA-3 expression than human CD56+CD16+ NK cells. We propose that bone marrow and thymic NK cell pathways generate distinct mouse NK cells with properties similar to those of the two human CD56 NK cell subsets.

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Figure 1: GATA-3 and CD127 expression by NK cells from various lymphoid tissues.
Figure 2: Phenotype of thymic NK cells.
Figure 3: Function of IL-7 in the homeostasis of thymic NK cells.
Figure 4: Identification of 'thymic' NK cells in various lymphoid organs.
Figure 5: Thymic NK cells are exported to the periphery.
Figure 6: GATA-3 expression is required for the development of CD127+ thymic NK cells.
Figure 7: Functional properties of CD127-expressing NK cell subsets.
Figure 8: Expression of CD127 in human thymic NK cells and peripheral blood NK cell subsets.

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  • 03 November 2006

    In the version of this article initially published, the symbols in the key of Figure 7a are incorrect. The filled ovals are Splenic; the filled diamonds are Thymic. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Canque, G. de Saint Basile, E. Six and M. Albert for thymocytes, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and antibodies for human studies, and R. Hendriks for Gata3+/nlslacZ mice. Supported by the Institut Pasteur, the Institut National de la Santé et Recherche Medicale, the Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer and the Fondation de la Recherche Médicale, as well as the Pasteur Foundation and Institut National de la Santé et Recherche Medicale (M.G.O.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité des Cytokines et Développement Lymphoide, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U668, Institut Pasteur, Paris, F-75724, France

    Christian A J Vosshenrich, Marcos E García-Ojeda, Sandrine I Samson-Villéger, Laurence Enault, Odile Richard-Le Goff, Erwan Corcuff, Delphine Guy-Grand & James P Di Santo

  2. Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U591, Faculté Necker Enfants Malades, Paris, F-75015, France

    Valerie Pasqualetto, Benedita Rocha & Sophie Ezine

  3. Unité de Développement des Lymphocytes, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U668, Institut Pasteur, Paris, F-75724, France

    Ana Cumano

  4. G5 Immunoregulation, Institut Pasteur, Paris, F-75724, France

    Lars Rogge

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  1. Christian A J Vosshenrich
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Contributions

C.A.J.V., M.E.G.-O., S.I.S.-V., L.E., D.G.-G., L.R., S.E. and J.P.D. did the experiments; V.P., O.R.-L. and E.C. provided technical assistance; B.R., A.C. and S.E. contributed to the experimental design and analysis; and C.A.J.V. and J.P.D. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to James P Di Santo.

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Vosshenrich, C., García-Ojeda, M., Samson-Villéger, S. et al. A thymic pathway of mouse natural killer cell development characterized by expression of GATA-3 and CD127. Nat Immunol 7, 1217–1224 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1395

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