VIRUS-REPLICATING T CELLS IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE OF MICE III. Role of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Replicating T Cells in the Antibody Response* BY NAGAHIRO MINATO:~ AND YOSHIMOTO KATSURA

T/NK Bipotent Progenitors in the Thymus

T Cell Lineage Determination Precedes the Initiation of TCR Gene Rearrangement

Prethymic T-cell development defined by the expression of paired immunoglobulin-like receptors.

T cells are produced in the thymus from progenitors of extrathymic origin. As no specific markers are available, the developmental pathway of progenitors preceding thymic colonization remains unclear. Here we show that progenitors in murine fetal liver and blood, which are capable of giving rise to T cells, NK cells and dendritic cells, but not B cells, can be isolated by their surface expressi...

Identification of the earliest prethymic T-cell progenitors in murine fetal blood.

During murine fetal development, hemato-poietic progenitors start to colonize the thymic anlage at day 11 of gestation via blood stream. The present study aims at identifying the earliest prethymic progenitors in circulation. Here, we show that the interleukin-7 receptor-positive (IL-7R+) cells in Lin- c-kit+ population are circulating exclusively between days 11 and 14 of fetal age. Clonal ana...

Thymic anlage is colonized by progenitors restricted to T, NK, and dendritic cell lineages.

It remains controversial whether the thymus-colonizing progenitors are committed to the T cell lineage. A major problem that has impeded the characterization of thymic immigrants has been that the earliest intrathymic progenitors thus far identified do not necessarily represent the genuine thymic immigrants, because their developmental potential should have been influenced by contact with the t...