Activation of c-myb expression by phytohemagglutinin stimulation in normal human T lymphocytes

The expression of c-myb in normal human T lymphocytes directly derived from a normal subject and not adapted to continuous growth in culture was found to be markedly increased after phytohemagglutinin stimulation. In the same cells, the expression of c-myc mRNA is a much earlier event compared with the appearance of c-myb mRNA, which takes place soon after that of histone H3 mRNA. The increase in c-myb expression was not due to a particular T-lymphocyte subset, as shown by in situ hybridization assays.