Abstract
Human T cell clones and a cDNA probe specific for constant regions of the beta subunit of the antigen/major histocompatibility complex (MHC) receptor, TiC beta 1 and TiC beta 2, were employed to determine whether these genes were differentially used by functional classes of T lymphocytes. DNA from 10 interleukin-2-dependent T cell clones including class I and class II MHC-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (n = 6), T4+ inducer T lymphocytes (n = 2), and T8+ suppressor T lymphocytes (n = 2) showed rearrangement of the TiC beta 1 gene on Southern blot analysis with or without deletion of the other TiC beta 1 allele. In contrast, TiC beta 2 always remained in germline configuration. Moreover, the finding that one additional suppressor clone deleted both TiC beta 1 alleles, maintained a germline TiC beta 2 configuration, and yet actively transcribed TiC beta 2 message suggested that TiC beta 2 is not a pseudogene. Rather, it appeared to be used less frequently than the TiC beta 1 gene and in the absence of detectable DNA rearrangements. Together, these results demonstrate that the functional repertoire (or isotype) of a given subclass of T cells is not encoded within the Ti beta genes.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (520.8 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Acuto O., Fabbi M., Smart J., Poole C. B., Protentis J., Royer H. D., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Purification and NH2-terminal amino acid sequencing of the beta subunit of a human T-cell antigen receptor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Jun;81(12):3851–3855. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.12.3851. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Acuto O., Meuer S. C., Hodgdon J. C., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Peptide variability exists within alpha and beta subunits of the T cell receptor for antigen. J Exp Med. 1983 Oct 1;158(4):1368–1373. doi: 10.1084/jem.158.4.1368. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bensussan A., Meuer S. C., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Delineation of an immunoregulatory amplifier population recognizing autologous Ia molecules. Analysis with human T cell clones. J Exp Med. 1984 Feb 1;159(2):559–576. doi: 10.1084/jem.159.2.559. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hedrick S. M., Cohen D. I., Nielsen E. A., Davis M. M. Isolation of cDNA clones encoding T cell-specific membrane-associated proteins. Nature. 1984 Mar 8;308(5955):149–153. doi: 10.1038/308149a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kappler J., Kubo R., Haskins K., Hannum C., Marrack P., Pigeon M., McIntyre B., Allison J., Trowbridge I. The major histocompatibility complex-restricted antigen receptor on T cells in mouse and man: identification of constant and variable peptides. Cell. 1983 Nov;35(1):295–302. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90232-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Maki R., Roeder W., Traunecker A., Sidman C., Wabl M., Raschke W., Tonegawa S. The role of DNA rearrangement and alternative RNA processing in the expression of immunoglobulin delta genes. Cell. 1981 May;24(2):353–365. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90325-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McIntyre B. W., Allison J. P. The mouse T cell receptor: structural heterogeneity of molecules of normal T cells defined by xenoantiserum. Cell. 1983 Oct;34(3):739–746. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90530-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Meuer S. C., Acuto O., Hussey R. E., Hodgdon J. C., Fitzgerald K. A., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Evidence for the T3-associated 90K heterodimer as the T-cell antigen receptor. Nature. 1983 Jun 30;303(5920):808–810. doi: 10.1038/303808a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Meuer S. C., Cooper D. A., Hodgdon J. C., Hussey R. E., Fitzgerald K. A., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Identification of the receptor for antigen and major histocompatibility complex on human inducer T lymphocytes. Science. 1983 Dec 16;222(4629):1239–1242. doi: 10.1126/science.6606228. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Meuer S. C., Cooper D. A., Hodgdon J. C., Hussey R. E., Morimoto C., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Immunoregulatory human T lymphocytes triggered as a consequence of viral infection: clonal analysis of helper, suppressor inducer and suppressor effector cell populations. J Immunol. 1983 Sep;131(3):1167–1172. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Meuer S. C., Schlossman S. F., Reinherz E. L. Clonal analysis of human cytotoxic T lymphocytes: T4+ and T8+ effector T cells recognize products of different major histocompatibility complex regions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Jul;79(14):4395–4399. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.14.4395. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Yanagi Y., Yoshikai Y., Leggett K., Clark S. P., Aleksander I., Mak T. W. A human T cell-specific cDNA clone encodes a protein having extensive homology to immunoglobulin chains. Nature. 1984 Mar 8;308(5955):145–149. doi: 10.1038/308145a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]