Neuropilin 1 and CD25 co-regulation during early murine thymic differentiation

Neuropilin 1 (NP1) is a receptor for both semaphorin and vascular endothelial growth factor expressed by subpopulations of neuronal and endothelial cells. In the immune system, NP1 is present on dendritic and regulatory T cells. Here, we show that NP1 is expressed in the murine thymus, starting on day 12.5 of gestation. In the adult, NP1 is mainly expressed by CD4(-)CD8(-) double negative cells, CD4+CD8+ double positive cells, and CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells but barely detected in single CD4+ and CD8+ positive thymocytes. Within the CD4(-)CD8(-)CD3(-) (triple-negative, TN) immature cells, NP1 expression starts in TN3 (CD44(-)CD25+) and increases in TN4 (CD44(-)CD25(-)) cells. In order to study the role of NP1 in thymocyte differentiation, we generated mice in which the np1 gene is selectively disrupted in the T-cell lineage. The mutant mice display normal thymocyte, peripheral, conventional and CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T-cell populations. However, we observe a down-regulation of the CD25 expression between the TN3 and TN4 stages that is (i) correlated to increased expression of NP1 in control mice and (ii) altered in mutant mice, suggesting that NP1 is co-regulated with CD25 during early immature thymocyte differentiation.