2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Cell-to-Cell Interaction in T Cell Differentiation
| Project/Area Number |
10044278
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B).
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Immunology
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| Research Institution | KYOTO UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
KATSURA Yoshimoto Institute for Frontier Medical Science, Kyoto Univ., Professor, 再生医科学研究所, 教授 (90027095)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
FUJIMOTO Shinji Institute for Frontier Medical Science, Kyoto Univ., Assist.Prof., 再生医科学研究所, 助手 (60199370)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 2000
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| Keywords | T cell / thymus / epithelial cell / T cell progenitor / microenvironment / differentiation / cell-to-cell interaction |
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| Research Abstract |
The thymic microenvironment supporting the T cell development has been presumed to be constructed through interaction between thymic epithelial cells and T cell progenitors. This idea, however, has not been based on exact experimental evidence. The present study aims at clarifying the role of T lineage cells in constructing the thymic environment. By culturing single progenitors together with a deoxyguanosine-treated fetal thymus (FT) lobe, we found that only the T cell progenitor but not B cell or myeloid progenitors are able to support the construction of the thymic microenviroment. Thymic T cell progenitors from Rag2^<-/-> mice, which show differentiation arrest at the CD44^-CD25^+ stage, were found to be similarly effective. These results indicate that T lineage cells at precursor stages, play a pivotal role in constructing the thymic microenvironment.
We also investigated the expression of several genes in thymic stromal cells and T lineage cells during early stages of T cell development by RT-PCR.So far, we found that Notch 1, Notch 2, Jagged 1, Jagged 2 were expressed in both epithelial cells and T lineage cells, whereas VCAM1 and FGF were exclusively expressed in ephithelial cells. At present, we are investigating the role of cell-to-cell interaction in the expression of these genes.
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