Blood, 1 December 2000, Vol. 96, No. 12, pp. 3988-3990
BRIEF REPORT
MHC class II and c-kit expression allows rapid
enrichment of T-cell progenitors from total bone marrow cells
Christiane Ody,
Catherine Corbel,
Dominique Dunon,
Olli Vainio, and
Beat A. Imhof
From the Department of Pathology, Centre Médical
Universitaire (CMU), Geneva, Switzerland; Institut d'Embryologie
Cellulaire et Moléculaire du Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS) et du Collège de France, Nogent/Marne,
France; UMR-CNRS 7622, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris,
France; and the Department of Medical Microbiology, Turku University,
Turku, Finland.
T-cell progenitors in the embryonic bone marrow express the
tyrosine kinase receptor c-kit. RR5, an anti-MHC class II
chain monoclonal antibody, subdivides this c-kit positive
population. Intrathymic transfer experiments showed that most of the
T-cell progenitors belong to the MHC class
II+/c-kit+ bone marrow population
in the embryo and young adult. On transplantation, these bone marrow
progenitors lose this expression and differentiate into CD4 CD8 T
lymphocytes. In contrast, erythroid progenitors are restricted to the
MHC class II
/c-kit+ population.
The MHC class II+/c-kit+ pro-T
cells are metabolically active, because they stain brightly with
rhodamin 123. Their cyclin A and B expression level suggests that they
are in the mitotic phase of the cell cycle. Thus, we define an easy
sorting protocol, which allows enrichment of T-cell progenitors from
total bone marrow hemopoietic cells.
