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Original Article

^a Department of Immunology, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan
Department of Immunology, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.81-75-751-464881-75-751-3842

katsura{at}frontier.kyoto-u.ac.jp

We have established a new clonal assay system that can evenly support the development of T and natural killer (NK) cells. With this system, we show that all T cell progenitors in the earliest CD44⁺CD25^–FcRII/III^– fetal thymus (FT) cell population retain NK potential, and that the NK lineage–committed progenitors (p-NK) also exist in this population. T cell lineage–committed progenitors (p-T), which are unable to generate NK cells, first appear at the CD44⁺CD25^– FcRII/III⁺ stage in day 12 FT. The proportion of p-T markedly increases during the transition from the CD44⁺CD25^– stage to the CD44⁺CD25⁺ stage in day 14 FT. On the other hand, p-NK preferentially increase in number at the CD44⁺CD25^– stage between days 12 and 14 of gestation. The production of p-NK continues up to the CD44⁺CD25⁺ stage, but ceases before the rearrangement of T cell receptor β chain genes. It was further shown that the CD44⁺CD25^– CD122⁺ population of day 14 FT exclusively contains p-NK. These results indicate that the earliest T cell progenitor migrating into the FT is T/NK bipotent, and strongly suggest that the bipotent progenitor continuously produces p-NK and p-T until the CD44⁺CD25⁺ stage.

Key Words: T cell • natural killer cell • hematopoietic stem cell • thymus • clonal assay

Abbreviations used in this paper: APC, allophycocyanin; B6, C57BL/6; dGuo, deoxyguanosine; dpc, day(s) postcoitum; FcR, FcRII/III; FL, fetal liver; FT, fetal thymus; HOS, high oxygen submersion; Lin, lineage marker; MLP, multilineage progenitor; p-NK, NK lineage–committed progenitor; p-T, T cell lineage–committed progenitor; p-T/NK, bipotent progenitor generating T and NK cells; SCF, stem cell factor.

© 1999 The Rockefeller University Press

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