Notch1 and IL-7 receptor signalling in early T-cell development and leukaemia

Notch receptors are master regulators of many aspects of development and tissue renewal in metazoans. Notch1 activation is essential for T-cell specification of bone marrow-derived multipotent progenitors that seed the thymus, and for proliferation and further progression of early thymocytes along the T-cell lineage. Deregulated activation of Notch1 significantly contributes to the generation of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL). In addition to Notch1 signals, survival and proliferation signals provided by the IL-7 receptor (IL-7R) are also required during thymopoiesis. Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms controlling stage-specific survival and proliferation signals provided by Notch1 and IL-7R has recently been improved by the discovery that the IL-7R is a transcriptional target of Notch1. Thus, Notch1 controls T-cell development, in part by regulating the stage- and lineage-specific expression of IL-7R. The finding that induction of IL-7R expression downstream of Notch1 also occurs in T-ALL highlights the important contribution that deregulated IL-7R expression and function may have in this pathology. Confirming this notion, oncogenic IL7R gain-of-function mutations have recently been identified in childhood T-ALL. Here we discuss the fundamental role of Notch1 and IL-7R signalling pathways in physiological and pathological T-cell development in mice and men, highlighting their close molecular underpinnings.