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Updated: Jun 30, 2026

Mouse Naïve CD4+ T Cell Isolation and In vitro Differentiation into T Cell Subsets
Published on: April 16, 2015
Lineage fate and intense debate: myths, models and mechanisms of CD4- versus CD8-lineage choice
Alfred Singer1, Stanley Adoro, Jung-Hyun Park
1Experimental Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. singera@mail.nih.gov
Abstract:
Following successful gene rearrangement at alphabeta T-cell receptor (TCR) loci, developing thymocytes express both CD4 and CD8 co-receptors and undergo a life-or-death selection event, which is known as positive selection, to identify cells that express TCRs with potentially useful ligand specificities. Positively selected thymocytes must then differentiate into either CD4(+) helper T cells or CD8(+) cytotoxic T cells, a crucial decision known as CD4/CD8-lineage choice. In this Review, we summarize recent advances in our understanding of the cellular and molecular events involved in lineage-fate decision and discuss them in the context of the major models of CD4/CD8-lineage choice.
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