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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jan 4.
Published in final edited form as: Immunol Cell Biol. 2008 Nov 4;87(2):186–189. doi: 10.1038/icb.2008.78

Figure 2.

Figure 2

MHC class II inhibits iNKT cell development. (a) MHC class II expression in thymocytes is necessary for the inhibition of iNKT cell generation. Total thymocytes from the indicated mice were analyzed for TCRβ and tetramer reactivity. WT and CIITATg mice on the Abb+/− and Abb−/− background were littermates. Results are representative of at least 4 experiments. (b) Relative percentages of thymic iNKT cells in at least 8 mice of Abb+/−, CIITATg/Abb+/−, CIITATg /Abb−/−, or Abb−/−. The value of the percentage of iNKT cells in WT mice was set at 100%. Mice were 2–3 months old. (c) Suppression of iNKT cell development by MHC class II-expressing thymoyctes in trans. BM cells from WT (CD45.2) and WT (CIITATg littermates; CD45.1/CD45.2) or WT (CD45.2) together with CIITATg (CD45.1/CD45.2) were co-injected into B6.SJL (CD45.1) recipients. Shown at the top is the composition of total thymocytes in reconstituted mice. TCRβ versus tetramer profiles of thymocytes are shown at the bottom. Chimeras were analyzed 10–12 weeks post BM transplantation. (d) MHC class II and CD4 expression is required for the disappearance of iNKT cells in mixed BM chimeric mice as indicated. BM were prepared from WT (CD45.1/2), Abb−/− (CD45.2), CIITATg/Abb−/− (CD45.2), CIITATg/CD1d−/− (CD45.2), CIITATg (CD45.1/2), and CD4−/− (CD45.2) mice and transferred to B6.SJL mice. The number in the dot plots represents the percentage of iNKT cells developed from WT BM cells except the bottom group that shows CD4−/− iNKT cells. Chimeras were analyzed 2–3 months post BM transplantation.