The myelin basic protein‐specific T cell repertoire in (transgenic) Lewis rat/SCID mouse chimeras: preferential Vβ8.2 T cell receptor usage depends on an intact Lewis thymic microenvironment
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Medientyp:
E-Artikel
Titel:
The myelin basic protein‐specific T cell repertoire in (transgenic) Lewis rat/SCID mouse chimeras: preferential Vβ8.2 T cell receptor usage depends on an intact Lewis thymic microenvironment
Beschreibung:
AbstractIn the Lewis rat, myelin basic protein (MBP)‐specific, encephalitogenic T cells preferentially recognize sequence 68–88, and use the Vβ8.2 gene to encode their T cell receptors. To analyze the structural prerequisites for the development of the MBP‐specific T cell repertoire, we reconstituted severe‐combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice with fetal (embryonic day 15–16) Lewis rat lymphoid tissue, and then isolated MBP‐specific T cell lines from the adult chimeras after immunization. Two types of chimera were constructed: SCID mice reconstituted with rat fetal liver cells only, allowing T cell maturation within a chimeric SCID thymus consisting of mouse thymic epithelium and rat interdigitating dendritic cells, and SCID mice reconstituted with rat fetal liver cells and rat fetal thymus grafts, allowing T cell maturation within the chimeric SCID and the intact Lewis rat thymic microenvironment. Without exception, the T cell lines isolated from MBP‐immunized SCID chimeras were restricted by MHC class II of the Lewis rat (RT1.B1), and none by I‐Ad of the SCID mouse. Most of the T cell lines recognized the immunodominant MBP epitope 68–88. In striking contrast to intact Lewis rats, in SCID mice reconstituted by rat fetal liver only, MBP‐specific T cell clones used a seemingly random repertoire of Vβ genes without a bias for Vβ8.2. In chimeras containing fetal Lewis liver plus fetal thymus grafted under the kidney capsule, however, dominant utilization of Vβ8.2 was restored. The migration of liver‐derived stem cells through rat thymus grafts was documented by combining fetal tissues from wild‐type and transgenic Lewis rats. The results confirm that the recognition of the immunodominant epitope 68–88 by MBP‐specific encephalitogenic T cells is a genetically determined feature of the Lewis rat T cell repertoire. They further suggest that the formation of the repertoire requires T cell differentiation in a syngeneic thymic microenvironment.