Expression of adhesion molecules on LEC rat peripheral CD4+ T cells: Unique expression of LFA-1 and LECAM-1

✍ Scribed by Tohru Sakai; Takashi Agui; Hajime Hisaeda; Keisuke Izumi; Kunisuke Himeno; Kozo Matsumoto

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 128 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0896-548X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-670x(1997)10:2<81::aid-jtra5>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

A mutant strain of Long-Evans cinnamon (LEC) rats was found to have a novel defect in T-cell maturation, i.e., arrest of differentiation from CD4 + 8 + to CD4 + 8 -, but not to CD4 -8 + thymocytes. Despite the maturational arrest of CD4 + 8 -thymocytes, some CD4 + T cells occurred in peripheral lymphoid organs in LEC rats. In the present study, expression of adhesion molecules was compared between normal and LEC rat T cells. Three-color flow cytometry analysis showed that the expression pattern of LFA-1 and LECAM-1 of LEC rat CD4 + T cells was different from that of normal rat CD4 + T cells; F344 rat CD4 + T cells were LFA-1 + , LECAM-1 ++ , whereas LEC rat CD4 + cells were LFA-1 ++ , LECAM-1 -. However, the expression pattern of these adhesion molecules on LEC rat CD8 + T cells was the same as that on F344 rat CD8 + T cells, suggesting that LEC rat T cells do not have an intrinsic defect in the expression of these molecules. To address the question of whether the abnormal expression of adhesion molecules is correlated with the thid mutation, we generated WKAH.C-thid congenic rats and analyzed these expression patterns. The expression of adhesion molecules on WKAH.C-thid congenic rat CD4 + T cells was the same as that of WKAH rat CD4 + T cells, suggesting that abnormal expression of adhesion molecules of LEC rat CD4 + T cells is independent of the thid mutation. These results indicate that LEC rat CD4 + T cells show a unique expression of adhesion molecules, and these phenotypes are independent of the thid mutation that causes maturational arrest of CD4 + 8 -thymocytes.