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Alpha/beta heterodimeric T-cell receptor expression early in thymocyte differentiation.

The differentiation of T lymphocytes inside the thymus results in the acquisition of MHC-restricted specific functions mediated by clonally distributed alpha/beta heterodimeric T-cell receptors (TcR). Genes encoding the alpha and beta subunits of the clonotypic receptor (Ti) are rearranged during thymic ontogeny and expressed in association with the monomorphic CD3 complex. The regulation of the expression of functional TcR along T-cell development is thus crucial to establish the ontogenic events involved in the acquisition and selection of T-cell repertoires. Current views support that CD3-alpha/beta heterodimers are acquired late in ontogeny on developing thymocytes already expressing CD4 and/or CD8 surface molecules, whereas CD4- CD8- early precursors, representing the major population in the embryonic thymus, do not yet express the alpha/beta TcR. However, a novel CD3-associated gamma/delta heterodimer has been recently identified on the surface of this "double negative" subset both in thymocytes and in MHC-unrestricted peripheral T cells, suggesting that alpha/beta and gamma/delta heterodimeric receptors are independently expressed on the surface of distinct thymic subpopulations during T-cell development. In contrast to these results, we report here that a major proportion of CD3+1-4-8- adult human thymocytes, included within the early "double negative" subset, express alpha/beta heterodimeric receptors, as assessed by flow cytometric analysis using a frame-work monoclonal antibody (WT.31) against the alpha/beta TcR complex. These and previous data showing that CD3+1-4-8- "double negative" thymocytes constitute a functional intermediate ontogenic stage in the differentiation of CD3+1-4+8-/CD3+1-4-8+ mature T cells from CD3-1-4-8- early prothymocytes further support the relevance of the CD3+1-4-8- transitional subset as immediate intrathymic precursors of alpha/beta TcR-bearing mature T cells. Therefore, developmental regulation of alpha/beta TcR expression was analyzed at the DNA, RNA, and protein levels in those different thymic subpopulations, defined by both functional and phenotypic criteria. Our results demonstrate that multiple Ti beta gene rearrangements and beta RNA messages are already evident at the early prothymocyte stage. Moreover, expression of relative levels of both Ti alpha and Ti beta functional RNA transcripts, similar to those observed in mature thymic cells, were also present in CD3+1-4-8- thymocytes. According with these data, immunoprecipitation analysis using a specific anti-Ti alpha antisera revealed that both alpha and beta molecules are expressed on CD3+ "double negative" and mature thymocytes, but not in prothymocytes