International Immunology, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-5,January 1992
© 1992 Japanese Society for Immunology
IL-7 induces proliferation of CD3–/low CD4– CD8– human thymocyte precursors by an IL-2 independent pathway
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Correspondence to: Correspondence to: J.L. Strominger
The proliferation potential of highly purified human CD3–CD4–CD8– (triple negative) and CD3low(lo)CD4–CD8– thymocyte precursors in response to various cytokines was investigated. High in vitro growth ability was observed in response to recombinant human IL-2 (riL-2) and human riL-7, both in the absence of any co-mitogen and in combination with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). Furthermore, the proliferation of these thymocyte precursors in the presence of rlL-7, although accompanied by a significant increase of IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) p55 expression, appeared independent of that mediated by the autocrine IL-2 pathway, since mAbs to IL-2 and IL-2R p55 did not eliminate responsiveness to rlL-7. Synergism of rlL-7 with rlL-2 was also observed, while no cooperation was detectable with rlL-4 or rlL-6. Analysis of surface phenotype and cell cycle status of cells cultured in the presence of rlL-7, both plus and minus PMA, showed that CD3– as well as CD310 cells readily proliferated to rlL-7. Upregulation of the levels of expression of CD3 antigen was also observed in these cultures. These results, together with the previous characterization of IL-7 as a human pre-B cell and mature T cell growth factor, Identify IL-7 as a cytokine with biologic activities on a variety of target cells. They also suggest that IL-7, in analogy with the mouse system, might play a role in human T cell ontogeny.
Keywords: T cell precursors, lymphokines, cytokines, surface phenotype, monoclonal antibodies, growth factors
1Present address; Laboratorio di Immunobiologia, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Viale Benedetto XV, 10 16132 Genova, Italy
Received 21 June 1991, accepted 4 September 1991.
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