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B
By


From the * Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Members of the nuclear factor (NF)-
Rheumatology Division, Department of
Medicine; and the § Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center,
Nashville, Tennessee 37232
B/Rel family transcription factors are induced during
thymic selection and in mature T lymphocytes after ligation of the T cell antigen receptor
(TCR). Despite these findings, disruption of individual NF-
B/Rel genes has revealed no intrinsic defect in the development of mature T cells, perhaps reflecting functional redundancy.
To circumvent this possibility, the T cell lineage was targeted to express a trans-dominant form
of I
B
that constitutively represses the activity of multiple NF-
B/Rel proteins. Transgenic
cells expressing this inhibitor exhibit a significant proliferative defect, which is not reversed by
the addition of exogenous interleukin-2. Moreover, mitogenic stimulation of splenocytes leads
to increased apoptosis of transgenic T cells as compared with controls. In addition to deregulated T cell growth and survival, transgene expression impairs the development of normal T cell
populations as evidenced by diminished numbers of TCRhi CD8 single-positive thymocytes.
This defect was significantly amplified in the periphery and was accompanied by a decrease in CD4+ T cells. Taken together, these in vivo findings indicate that the NF-
B/Rel signaling
pathway contains compensatory components that are essential for the establishment of normal
T cell subsets.
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