Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 156, 1848-1853, Copyright © 1982 by Rockefeller University Press
A search for messenger RNA molecules bearing immunoglobulin VH nucleotide sequences in T cells
DJ Kemp, JM Adams, PL Mottram, WR Thomas, ID Walker and JF Miller
Expression of VH-coded mRNA molecules in T cells, antigen-specific T cell
lines, or T cell hybridomas was not detected using four different VH DNA
probes under conditions that permitted cross-hybridization between
distantly related VH genes. In contrast, VH gene expression was readily
detected in two B cell lymphomas and in splenic B cells. Less than one
molecule per cell of RNA, exactly complementary to the DNA probes used,
would have been detected in these T cell populations. The results thus
seriously question the proposition that T cells use the B cell VH
repertoire to code for antigen receptors.