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International Immunology, Vol. 11, No. 11, 1841-1849, November 1999
© 1999 Japanese Society for Immunology

Expression of CD21 is developmentally regulated during thymic maturation of human T lymphocytes

Elizabeth M. Fischer, Amal Mouhoub, Françoise Maillet, Véronique Frémeaux-Bacchi, Corinne Krief, Hannah Gould1, Sonia Berrih-Aknin2 and Michel D. Kazatchkine

INSERM U430, Hôpital Broussais, 96 rue Didot, 75014 Paris, France
1 Developmental Biology Research Center, The Randall Institute, King's College, London WC2B 5RL, UK
2 CNRS URA 1159, Hôpital Marie Lannelongue, 92350 Le Plessis Robinson, France

Correspondence to: E. Fischer

CD21, the C3d/CD23/Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), receptor is expressed at low density on cells of the T lineage. Immature thymocytes express CD21 with high density. In the present study, we have analyzed the expression of CD21 during intrathymic maturation of T cells. An intense staining for CD21 was observed at the double-negative stage and at the stage of early acquisition of CD4. CD21 expression was decreased at the double-positive and single-positive stages, to then reach levels similar to those of peripheral blood T cells. Staining of thymus sections showed a bright fluorescent signal on thymocytes entering the thymus in the cortical region. Taking advantage of the immature phenotype of cells expressing high amounts of CD21 (CD21++), we depleted thymocyte suspensions in CD3+ and CD8+ cells to study the properties of CD21 on this cell subset. Triggering of CD21 with its ligands iC3b, CD23 and anti-CD21 mAb did not alter the proliferative response of thymocytes to IL-7, and did not induce the differentiation of early cells into CD4+CD8+ thymocytes. Immunoprecipitation did not reveal any molecule associated with CD21 that could play a signaling role in thymocytes. Finally, EBV induced a down-regulation of CD21 and an up-regulation of CD1 in CD21++ thymocytes. Taken together, our observations demonstrate a regulated expression of CD21 on human thymocytes and suggest that the CD21++ subset may be a target for EBV. We further suggest that CD21 on early thymocytes acts as a ligand for CD23-expressing cells in the thymus.

Keywords: CD23, Epstein–Barr virus, thymocytes, maturation

Transmitting editor: G. Klein


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