The bHLH gene Hes1 is essential for expansion of early T cell precursors

  1. Koichi Tomita,
  2. Masakazu Hattori,
  3. Eijiro Nakamura,
  4. Shigetada Nakanishi,
  5. Nagahiro Minato, and
  6. Ryoichiro Kageyama
  1. Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan; Departments of Biological Sciences and Immunology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

Abstract

Mice mutant for the bHLH gene Hes1, which is known to keep cells in a proliferative state, mostly lack thymus. Transfer ofHes1-null fetal liver cells into RAG2-null host mice normally reconstitutes B cells but fails to generate mature T cells in the thymus. In the reconstituted thymus, T cell differentiation is arrested at the CD4−CD8− double negative (DN) stage. Both the initial T cell receptor (TCR)-independent and the subsequent TCR-dependent selective expansion during the DN stage are severely affected. Thus, Hes1 is essential for the earliest thymocyte expansion in a cell-autonomous manner.

Keywords

Footnotes

  • ↵Corresponding authors.

  • E-MAIL rkageyam{at}virus.kyoto-u.ac.jp; FAX 81-75-751-4807.

  • E-MAIL hattori{at}med.kyoto-u.ac.jp; FAX 81-75-753-4403.

    • Received September 28, 1998.
    • Accepted March 22, 1999.
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