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From the Basel Institute for Immunology, CH-4005 Basel, Switzerland
Thymic T cell development is controlled by T cell receptor (TCR)-major histocompatibility
complex (MHC) interactions, whereas a further dependence of peripheral mature T cells on
TCR-MHC contact has not been described so far. To study this question, CD4 T cell survival
was surveyed in mice lacking MHC class II expression and in mice expressing MHC class II
exclusively on dendritic cells. Since neither of these mice positively select CD4 T cells in the thymus, they were grafted with MHC class II-positive embryonic thymic tissue, which had
been depleted of bone marrow derived cells. Although the thymus grafts in both hosts were repopulated with host origin thymocytes of identical phenotype and numbers, an accumulation
of CD4+ T cells in peripheral lymphoid organs could only be observed in mice expressing
MHC class II on dendritic cells, but not in mice that were completely MHC class II deficient.
As assessed by histology, the accumulating peripheral CD4 T cells were found to be in close
contact with MHC class II+ dendritic cells, suggesting that CD4 T cells need peripheral MHC
class II expression for survival and that class II+ dendritic cells might play an important role for
the longevity of CD4 T cells.
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