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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/1997/10/1223/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 186, Number 8, October 20, 1997 1223-1232

Articles

Survival of Mature CD4 T Lymphocytes Is Dependent on Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II–expressing Dendritic Cells

Thomas Brocker

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.

Address correspondence to Thomas Brocker, Basel Institute for Immunology, Grenzacherstr. 487, CH-4005 Basel, Postfach, Switzerland. Phone: 41-61-6051331; FAX: 41-61-6051364; E-mail: BROCKER{at}bii.ch

The author would like to thank K. Hafen and M. Riedinger for expert technical assistance, H.P. Stahlberger for graphic artwork, and Drs. Isabelle Chrétien, Joerg Kirberg, and Raul Torres for carefully reading the manuscript.

The Basel Institute for Immunology was founded and is supported by Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. (Basel, Switzerland).

1 Abbreviations used in this paper: DC, dendritic cell; dGuo, 2'-deoxyguanosine; HSA, heat stable antigen; IDC, interdigitating cell; TG, thymus graft.


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