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Published September 1987 | public
Journal Article

Differential regulation of T cell receptor gamma genes in immature thymocyte populations

Abstract

Immature thymocytes that lack both Lyt-2 (CD8) and L3T4 (CD4) expression can respond rapidly to stimulation with phorbol ester and calcium ionophore by expressing some gene products characteristic of mature, activated T cells. Here we studied the effect of such short-term stimulation on the number of copies per cell of RNA for components of the T cell receptor complex. Although, upon stimulation, mRNAs for T cell receptor β chain accumulated to higher levels, the cells did not rapidly increase their expression of α-chain transcripts from rearranged or germ-line genes. Transcripts from the C_γ1 (Cγ13.4) and Cγ2 (Cγ10.5) genes were differentially regulated. The rarer Cγ1 transcripts were strongly induced, while the initially abundant C_γ2 transcripts showed a modest decrease in transcripts per cell within 24 h. Thus, the ratio of these two transcripts could be shifted dramatically prior to any significant change in the cellular composition of the population. These results suggest regulatory processes that may contribute to the observed expression of γ products in vitro or in normal development.

Additional Information

© 1987 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. Manuscript Received: 3 June 1987. Funded by: National Institutes of Health. Grant Numbers: #AI-19752, CA-39605; NCI felloswhip. Grant Number: #CA 07876.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023