Abstract
DURING thymocyte development, progenitor cells bearing both CD4 and CD8 coreceptor molecules mature into functional T lymphocytes that express these proteins in a mutually exclusive way1. Although T-cell specificity is determined primarily by the structure of the T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) heterodimer2, a developmentally regulated process acts to ensure that cells bearing class II-restricted TCRs are CD4+ and those bearing class I-restricted TCRs express only CD8 (ref.3). To investigate this maturation process, we have engineered transgenic mice in which CD4 is expressed in all thymocyte subsets and in all peripheral T cells. Peripheral CD4+8+ T lymphocytes from these mice react with both class I and class II alloantigens. Moreover, expression of the CD4 transgene disrupts the positive selection of doubly transgenic thymocytes bearing a class I-restricted TCR specific for the male (H–Y) antigen. Hence the CD4 coreceptor participates directly in T-cell repertoire selection.
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Teh, HS., Garvin, A., Forbush, K. et al. Participation of CD4 coreceptor molecules in T-cell repertoire selection. Nature 349, 241–243 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/349241a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/349241a0
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