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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Examination of Thymic Positive and Negative Selection by Flow Cytometry
Published on: October 8, 2012
Beta-catenin expression enhances IL-7 receptor signaling in thymocytes during positive selection
Qing Yu1, Mai Xu, Jyoti Misra Sen
1Lymphocyte Development Unit, Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Gerontology Research Center, 5600 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
Abstract:
Differentiation of CD4+CD8+ double-positive thymocytes into CD8+ single-positive (SP) thymocytes is regulated by TCR and cytokine receptor signals. Previously, we have shown that expression of stabilized beta-catenin, the major transcriptional cofactor of T cell factor, results in increase in both CD4SP and CD8SP thymocytes with a preferential effect on CD8SP thymocytes. In this report, using mice expressing stabilized beta-catenin and mice with T cell specific deletion of beta-catenin, we show that beta-catenin expression augments IL-7Ralpha-chain expression and down-regulates suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 expression in thymocytes undergoing positive selection. Consequently, beta-catenin expression augments IL-7R signaling in thymocytes during positive selection and promotes the development of CD8SP thymocytes.
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