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Updated: Mar 17, 2026

Mouse Naïve CD4+ T Cell Isolation and In vitro Differentiation into T Cell Subsets
Published on: April 16, 2015
Thymic DCs derived IL-27 regulates the final maturation of CD4(+) SP thymocytes
Hui Tang1, Jie Zhang1, Xiuyuan Sun1
1Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Department of Immunology, Ministry of Health, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, 38 Xue Yuan Road, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
IL-27, as a pleiotropic cytokine, promotes the differentiation of naïve T cells to Th1, while suppressing Th2 and Th17 differentiation in the periphery. However, the role of IL-27 in the thymocyte development remains unknown. Here we showed that IL-27 was highly expressed in thymic plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) while its receptor expression was mainly detected in CD4(+) single-positive (SP) thymocytes. Deletion of the p28 subunit in DCs resulted in a reduction of the most mature Qa-2(+) subsets of CD4(+) SP T cells. This defect was rescued by intrathymic administration of exogenous IL-27. In vitro differentiation assay further demonstrated that IL-27 alone was able to drive the maturation of the newly generated 6C10(+)CD69(+)CD4(+) SP cells into Qa-2(+) cells. Collectively, this study has revealed an important role of thymic DCs-derived IL-27 in the regulation of the phenotypic maturation of CD4(+) SP thymocytes.
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