Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Expression Of Tcr-Vbeta Peptides By Murine Bone Marrow Cells Does Not Identify T Cell Progenitors, Janice Abbey, Holger Karunsky, Thomas Serwold, Peter Papathanasiou, Irving Weissman, Helen O'Neill

Helen O'Neill

Germline transcription has been described for both immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor (TCR) genes, raising questions of their functional significance during haematopoiesis. Previously, an immature murine T-cell line was shown to bind antibody to TCR-Vβ8.2 in absence of anti-Cβ antibody binding, and an equivalent cell subset was also identified in the mesenteric lymph node. Here, we investigate whether germline transcription and cell surface Vβ8.2 expression could therefore represent a potential marker of T-cell progenitors. Cells with the TCR phenotype of Vβ8.2+Cβ- are found in several lymphoid sites, and among the lineage-negative (Lin-) fraction of hematopoietic progenitors in bone marrow (BM). Cell …