Escape from thymic deletion and anti-leukemic effects of T cells specific for hematopoietic cell-restricted antigen.

ABSTRACT: Whether hematopoietic cell-restricted distribution of antigens affects the degree of thymic negative selection has not been investigated in detail. Here, we show that T cells specific for hematopoietic cell-restricted antigens (HRA) are not completely deleted in the thymus, using the mouse minor histocompatibility antigen H60, the expression of which is restricted to hematopoietic cells. As a result, low avidity T cells escape from thymic deletion. This incomplete thymic deletion occurs to the T cells developing de novo in the thymus of H60-positive recipients in H60-mismatched bone marrow transplantation (BMT). H60-specific thymic deletion escapee CD8+ T cells exhibit effector differentiation potentials in the periphery and contribute to graft-versus-leukemia effects in the recipients of H60-mismatched BMT, regressing H60+ hematological tumors. These results provide information essential for understanding thymic negative selection and developing a strategy to treat hematological tumors.

SUBMITTER: Ju JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5768767 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature