The transcription factor c-Myb primes CD4+CD8+ immature thymocytes for selection into the iNKT lineage

Taishan Hu1, Amie Simmons, Joan Yuan

  • 1Immunobiology and Cancer Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.

Nature Immunology
|April 13, 2010
PubMed

Type I invariant NKT cells (iNKT cells) are a subset of alphabeta T cells characterized by the expression of an invariant alpha-chain variable region 14-alpha-chain joining region 18 (V(alpha)14J(alpha)18) T cell antigen receptor (TCR) alpha-chain. The iNKT cells derive from CD4(+)CD8(+) double-positive (DP) thymocytes, and their generation requires a long half-life of DP thymocytes to allow V(alpha)14-J(alpha)18 rearrangements, expression of glycolipid-loaded CD1d on DP thymocytes, and signaling through the signaling-activation molecule SLAM-adaptor SAP pathway. Here we show that the transcription factor c-Myb has a central role in priming DP thymocytes to enter the iNKT lineage by simultaneously regulating CD1d expression, the half-life of DP cells and expression of SLAMF1, SLAMF6 and SAP.

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