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Functional insulin-like growth factor-1/insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor-mediated circuit in human and murine
Valéria de Mello Coelho1, Déa Maria Serra Villa-Verde, Désio Aurélio Farias-de-Oliveira
1Department of Immunology, Laboratory on Thymus Research, Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Abstract:
Interactions between thymocytes and thymic epithelial cell (TEC) can be modulated by growth hormone via insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). In this study, we showed IGF-1 and IGF-1 receptor mRNA expression by human and murine TEC and thymocytes. Functionally, IGF-1 stimulates extracellular matrix production by human TEC. Moreover, pretreatment of murine TEC with IGF-1 increases their adhesion to thymocytes. Interestingly, we observed an increase in the frequency of CD4-CD8-CD90+ T cells which adhered to pretreated TEC, supporting the concept that IGF-1 may also act indirectly on intrathymic T cell differentiation and migration through the thymic epithelium.