The Journal of Experimental Medicine
Aegean Conferences: 2009 Conferences
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published online February 12, 2007
doi:10.1084/jem.20061982
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 204, No. 2, 267-272
The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007 $30.00
© 2007 Jenkinson et al.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 1065K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Supplemental Material Index
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JEM
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Jenkinson, S. R.
Right arrow Articles by Bosselut, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Jenkinson, S. R.
Right arrow Articles by Bosselut, R.
Right arrowPubmed/NCBI databases
*Gene*GEO Profiles
*HomoloGene*UniGene
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

BRIEF DEFINITIVE REPORT

 Expression of the transcription factor cKrox in peripheral CD8 T cells reveals substantial postthymic plasticity in CD4-CD8 lineage differentiation

S. Rhiannon Jenkinson1, Andrew M. Intlekofer2, Guangping Sun1, Lionel Feigenbaum3, Steven L. Reiner2, and Rémy Bosselut1

1 Laboratory of Immune Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892
2 Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
3 SAIC Frederick, NCI-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, MD 21702

CORRESPONDENCE Rémy Bosselut: remy{at}helix.nih.gov

Most T cells belong to either of two lineages defined by the mutually exclusive expression of CD4 and CD8 coreceptors: CD4 T cells are major histocompatibility complex (MHC) II restricted and have helper function, whereas CD8 T cells are MHC I restricted and have cytotoxic function. The divergence between these two lineages occurs during intrathymic selection and is thought to be irreversible in mature T cells. It is, however, unclear whether the CD4-CD8 differentiation of postthymic T cells retains some level of plasticity or is stably maintained by mechanisms distinct from those that set lineage choice in the thymus. To address this issue, we examined if coreceptor or effector gene expression in mature CD8 T cells remains sensitive to the zinc finger transcription factor cKrox, which promotes CD4 and inhibits CD8 differentiation when expressed in thymocytes. We show that cKrox transduction into CD8 T cells inhibits their expression of CD8 and cytotoxic effector genes and impairs their cytotoxic activity, and that it promotes expression of helper-specific genes, although not of CD4 itself. These observations reveal a persistent degree of plasticity in CD4-CD8 differentiation in mature T cells.

G. Sun's present address is Dept. of Immunology, CD&I, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD 20910.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search
TABLE OF CONTENTS