Auto-reconstitution of the T-cell compartment by radioresistant hematopoietic cells following lethal irradiation and bone marrow transplantation

作者:Bosco Nabil; Swee Lee Kim; Benard Angele; Ceredig Rhodri; Rolink Antonius*
来源:Experimental Hematology, 2010, 38(3): 222-232.
DOI:10.1016/j.exphem.2009.12.006

摘要

Objective. In lethally irradiated bone marrow chimeras, part of the reconstituted T-cell compartment is derived from the irradiated host, but the detailed origin and functional activity of host-derived T cells hates not been thoroughly analyzed. Herein, we determine the origin and function of radioresistant host-derived T cells.
Materials and Methods. Lethally irradiated thymectomized or nonthymectomized C57BL/6 host mice were reconstituted with syngeneic bone marrow, itself incapable of generating T cells. Using fetal thymic organ cultures, bulk and limiting dilution assays on OP9-DL1 stromal cells, unambiguous cohorts of thymus-derived and peripheral T-cell-derived T cells were phenotypically characterized by flow cytometry and functionally characterized by their ability to participate in a T-cell-dependent antibody response.
Results. Both thymus-derived and peripheral T-cell-derived host T cells are functional and can reconstitute 35% of the normal T-cell pool. By comparing thymectomized vs nonthymectomized hosts, host-derived T cells were shown to comprise a major (70%) subpopulation of de novo generated, thymus-derived, polyclonal, naive cells, and a minor subpopulation of surviving, peripheral, oligoclonal, memory-like cells. Unlike euthymic recipients, mice whose T cells were derived from surviving peripheral T cells were frequently incapable of mounting a T-cell-dependent antibody response. Host-derived thymocytes regenerated in an interleukin-7-dependent fashion from conventional DN2 thymocytes and their differentiation recapitulated normal thymic ontogeny.
Conclusion. We characterized, fir the first time, functional radioresistant DN2-phenotype thymic T-cell precursors, the T-cell progeny of which might provide a first line of defense against infections during the lymphopenic phase post-bone marrow transplantation.

  • 出版日期2010-3