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CUTTING EDGE |
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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TCR or
a 
TCR and differ from their thymus-dependent (TD) iIEL
counterparts in that they fail to express several phenotypic markers
characteristic of mature T cells (including Thy-1 or CD90, CD5, and
CD28) and express a homodimeric form of the CD8
coreceptor in
contrast to the CD8
heterodimer expressed by conventional
CD8+ T cells (1, 2, 3, 4).
In addition to phenotypic differences, TI-iIEL differ from
thymus-derived T cells in their TCR-associated signaling components.
Thus whereas conventional T cells have CD3
homodimers associated
with their TCR, TI- iIEL have TCR-associated heterodimers composed of
CD3
and Fc
RI
(a CD3
homologue) (5). This
difference is developmentally relevant because TI-iIEL (but not
conventional T cells) expressing either an 
TCR or a 
TCR
develop normally in gene-targeted CD3
-deficient mice (6, 7).
Consistent with their unique TCR-associated signaling components,
TI-iIEL show distinct requirements for positive and negative selection
as compared with thymus-derived T cells. For example, whereas
conventional TCR 
+ CD8
T cells are
positively selected by classical MHC class I molecules and negatively
selected by self Ags in the thymus, TCR 
+
CD8
TI-iIEL are positively selected by nonclassical MHC class Ib
(8, 9, 10) and apparently do not undergo negative selection
(11, 12, 13). The selection requirements for TCR

+ T cells (whether of thymic or extrathymic
origin) remain obscure.
Although the site of generation of TI-iIEL remained controversial for
some time, two recent studies strongly suggest that the gut epithelium
itself provides the inductive microenvironment necessary for
extrathymic T cell development. Thus Saito et al. (14)
isolated CD117+ lineage-negative
(lin-) precursor cells from specialized
intestinal structures (termed cryptopatches) in the lamina propria of
athymic mice and showed that they gave rise to TI-iIEL progeny when
transferred into SCID recipients. In a different approach, Laky et al.
(15) showed that tissue-specific expression of IL-7 in
enterocytes of IL-7-deficient mice led to the development of TCR

+ iIEL in the intestine but not in any
other tissue. Taken together, these reports provide compelling evidence
that extrathymic T cell development can occur in situ in the intestinal
epithelium.
Despite the fact that clear-cut differences in surface phenotype, TCR structure, and selection requirements between TI-iIEL and conventional T cells have been described, it is not clear whether the basic mechanisms controlling T cell fate specification differ in the thymus and the gut. In this respect, we have recently reported that Notch-1, a member of the Notch multigene family that controls binary cell fate decisions in several developmental systems (16, 17), is absolutely required for the development of all conventional T cells in the thymus as well as secondary lymphoid organs such as lymph nodes and spleen (18). In this report, we have used a competitive bone marrow (BM) reconstitution system to demonstrate that extrathymic T cell development in the gut is also totally Notch-1 dependent. We conclude that Notch-1 signaling plays a selective but essential role in T cell fate specification both in the thymus and in extrathymic tissues such as the intestinal epithelium.
| Materials and Methods |
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Notch-1lox/lox and
Notch-1lox/lox/Mx-Cre mice as well as competitive
mixed BM chimeras were generated as previously described
(18). All BM donors were treated with poly(I:C) (an
inducer of endogenous IFN-
). Deletion of Notch-1 was >98% as
assessed by Southern blot analysis of
Notch-1lox/lox/Mx-Cre BM.
Isolation of iIEL and intestinal lamina propria lymphocytes (iLPL)
iIELs and iLPLs were isolated from individual mice by standard methods (15). Briefly, 6-wk-old C57BL/6 mice (Harlan, Olac, U.K.) were sacrificed, and their small intestines were removed into cold PBS. Peyers patches were removed by dissection under a strong light over a black surface. The intestines were then opened longitudinally, flushed with cold PBS to remove detritus, cut into 1-cm pieces, and washed two times in Ca2+- and Mg2+-free HBSS (Life Technologies, Rockville, MD) supplemented with 2% horse serum (HS) (Life Technologies). Each intestine was then incubated two times in 50 ml HBSS/1 mM HEPES/1 mM DTT/2.5 mM NaHCO3/10% HS for 20 min at 37°C with constant stirring in a bottle precoated with HS to minimize cell loss by adhesion. Cells released into the supernatant were harvested by filtration through a sieve and washed one time in HBSS/HEPES/5% HS. The lymphocyte fraction was subsequently recovered by centrifugation at 900 x g for 15 min through a Percoll (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Uppsala, Sweden) gradient (5 ml 44% Percoll layered over 5 ml 67.5% Percoll) at room temperature. After harvesting the lymphocyte fraction at the interface, the cells were washed two times in HBSS/5% HS before use. iLPL were prepared from the pieces of gut left over from the iIEL isolation after extensively washing (two times 30 min at 37°C in HBSS/1.3 mM EDTA) to remove any residual iIELs. After 20 min at room temperature in RPMI 1640/5% HS, the fragments were digested two times with 100 U/ml Collagenase (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) in RPMI 1640/1 mMCaCl2/1 mM MgCl2/5% HS for 30 min at 37°C. The supernatant was collected each time, and the cells were washed in PBS/5% FCS. The lymphocyte fraction was subsequently isolated over a Percoll gradient as for iIEL.
Abs, FACS staining, and analysis
Cell suspensions were stained and analyzed by FACS as described
previously (18). Briefly, after isolation of iIELs or
iLPLs (see above), cells were stained in the presence of 2.4.G.2
supernatant (anti-FcR mAb) for four-color FACS analysis.
The following mAb conjugates were used:
anti-CD4-CyChrome, anti-CD8
-CyChrome,
anti-B220-CyChrome, anti-B220-FITC, anti-CD117-PE,
anti-CD3
-PE, anti-CD19-PE, and anti-CD45.2-PE
(PharMingen, San Diego, CA); anti-CD45.1-Cy5 and
anti-CD45.2-Cy5 were conjugated in this laboratory from purified
protein purchased from PharMingen; anti-CD8
-FITC, anti-CD8
-FITC,
anti-CD4-FITC, and anti-CD3
-FITC were purified and conjugated in
this laboratory. Cells were analyzed on a FACScalibur flow cytometer
using CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson, San Jose, CA). Live gating
was performed to eliminate dead cells and debris from the analysis, and
data from 200,000 cells were collected for each file.
| Results and Discussion |
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-inducible Cre recombinase transgene) is only around 60% in
the gut but close to 100% in the BM of these mice (18), a
competitive mixed BM chimera system was employed.
CD45.2+ BM from either Notch-1-deleted
(Notch-1lox/lox/Mx-Cre) or control
(Notch-1lox/lox) mice was mixed at a 2:1 ratio
with CD45.1+ wild-type BM and injected into
CD45.1+ lethally irradiated C57BL/6 mice to give
Notch-1-deleted or control chimeras, respectively.
CD45.2+ donor-derived iIEL from individual mice
were analyzed after 36 mo. As shown in Fig. 1
+ TD-iIEL
subsets can be detected in control chimeras; however, virtually no
TD-iIEL can be detected derived from Notch-1-deleted BM. In absolute
cell numbers, this represents a 15-fold decrease in
CD4+ and a 13-fold decrease in
CD8
+ TD-iIEL (Fig. 2
+ cells
can be detected among CD45.1+ iIEL derived from
wild-type BM in all chimeric mice in equivalent numbers (data not
shown). This finding confirms and extends our previous results
(18) by showing that Notch-1 is essential for the
development of thymus-derived T cells in the gut as well as in other
organs.
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homodimer
instead of the more conventional CD8
heterodimer (19, 20). Both TCR 
+ and TCR

+ T cells can express the homodimeric CD8
molecule. Fig. 3
vs CD3
on CD45.2+ iIEL after gating out
thymus-dependent (i.e., CD4+ and
CD8
+) cells in control or Notch-1-deleted
chimeras. In control chimeras, a substantial percentage of
CD8
+ TI-iIEL was observed. These
CD8
+ cells expressed CD3
(Fig. 3
+ and TCR

+ cells (data not shown). In contrast, no
CD8
+ or CD3
+
TI-iIEL were detected in Notch-1-deficient chimeras (Fig. 3
+
and TCR 
+ cells (Fig. 2
+) iIEL subsets. These results clearly
demonstrate that the development of both thymic and extrathymically
derived gut T cells is Notch-1 dependent.
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CD117+ lin- cells located
in cryptopatches of the gut lamina propria have been described as
potential precursor cells for TI-IELs (14, 22). Therefore,
expression of CD117 on lin-
(CD3-4-8
-B200-)
cells derived from control or Notch-1-deficient BM was examined in the
intestinal epithelium and lamina propria of mixed BM chimeras.
Interestingly the percentage of CD117+
lin- cells among iIEL or iLPL derived from
control or Notch-1-deficient BM was not significantly different (Fig. 4
A) and absolute cell numbers
of Notch 1-/- CD117+
lin- iIEL and iLPL were only reduced 2-fold
(Fig. 4
B). In contrast, CD117+
lin-
(CD3-4-8
-)
thymocytes derived from Notch-1-deficient BM were reduced 9-fold as
compared with control BM in the same mixed chimeras (Fig. 4
B). These data indicate that CD117+
lin- precursors of
Notch-1-/- origin are relatively more abundant
in the gut than in the thymus, despite the complete absence of mature T
cells in both tissues. Moreover, the presence of
CD117+ lin- cells in both
the thymus and intestine essentially rule out defective homing of T
cell precursors as an explanation for the absence of mature T cells of
Notch-1-/- origin.
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| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. H. Robson MacDonald, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, Chemin des Boveresses 155, CH-1066 Epalinges, Switzerland. ![]()
3 Abbbreviations used in this paper: TI, thymus independent; iIEL, intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte; iLPL, intestinal lamina propria lymphocyte; TD, thymus dependent; BM, bone marrow; lin-, lineage negative; HS, horse serum. ![]()
Received for publication June 30, 2000. Accepted for publication September 13, 2000.
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T cells and peyers patches. J. Exp. Med. 191:1569.This article has been cited by other articles:
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