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Updated: Jul 1, 2026

Mouse Naïve CD4+ T Cell Isolation and In vitro Differentiation into T Cell Subsets
Published on: April 16, 2015
Distinct functions for the transcription factors GATA-3 and ThPOK during intrathymic differentiation of CD4(+) T
Lie Wang1, Kathryn F Wildt, Jinfang Zhu
1Laboratory of Immune Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Abstract:
The transcription factors GATA-3 and ThPOK are required for intrathymic differentiation of CD4(+) T cells, but their precise functions in this process remain unclear. Here we show that, contrary to previous findings, Gata3 disruption blocked differentiation into the CD4(+) T cell lineage before commitment to the CD4(+) lineage and in some contexts permitted the 'redirection' of major histocompatibility complex class II-restricted thymocytes into the CD8(+) lineage. GATA-3 promoted ThPOK expression and bound to a region of the locus encoding ThPOK established as being critical for ThPOK expression. Finally, ThPOK promoted differentiation into the CD4(+) lineage in a way dependent on GATA-3 but inhibited differentiation into the CD8(+) lineage independently of GATA-3. We propose that GATA-3 acts as a specification factor for the CD4(+) lineage 'upstream' of the ThPOK-controlled CD4(+) commitment checkpoint.
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