标题：Kinetics of T cell receptor β, γ, and δ rearrangements during adult thymic development: T cell receptor rearrangements are present in CD44+CD25+ Pro-T thymocytes
期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1998
卷号：95
期号：21
页码：12522-12527
DOI：10.1073/pnas.95.21.12522
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：We performed a comprehensive analysis of T cell receptor (TCR) {gamma} rearrangements in T cell precursors of the mouse adult thymus. Using a sensitive quantitative PCR method, we show that TCR{gamma} rearrangements are present in CD44+CD25+ Pro-T thymocytes much earlier than expected. TCR{gamma} rearrangements increase significantly from the Pro-T to the CD44-CD25+ Pre-T cell transition, and follow different patterns depending on each V{gamma} gene segment, suggesting that ordered waves of TCR{gamma} rearrangement exist in the adult mouse thymus as has been described in the fetal mouse thymus. Recombinations of TCR{gamma} genes occur concurrently with TCR{delta} and D-J{beta} rearrangements, but before V{beta} gene assembly. Productive TCR{gamma} rearrangements do not increase significantly before the Pre-T cell stage and are depleted in CD4+CD8+ double-positive cells from normal mice. In contrast, double-positive thymocytes from TCR{delta}-/- mice display random proportions of TCR{gamma} rearranged alleles, supporting a role for functional TCR{gamma}/{delta} rearrangements in the {gamma}{delta} divergence process.
