Thymic dependence of invariant Vα14+ Natural Killer-T cell development

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Abstract
Both thymic and extrathymic bone marrow (BM)‐derived pathways for the development of CD1 reactive, Vα14‐Jα281+ NK1.1+ T cells have been suggested. In this report, we sought evidence for extrathymic NK‐T cell development using two approaches. First, BM cells from γc‐deficient mice were examined for the presence of Vα14‐Jα281 transcripts. Since intrathymic NK‐T cell selection is γc independent, we predicted that γc– BM cells should also harbor these specific TCRα chains. Second, Vα14‐Jα281 transcripts were analyzed in BM cells from lethally irradiated, thymectomized mice reconstituted with fetal liver hematopoietic precursors. All donor‐derived T cell development in these chimeras is by definition extrathymic. In both cases, we failed to detect invariant Vα14+ TCRα chain transcripts. These experiments call into question the significance of an extrathymic pathway of development for Vα14+ NK1.1+ CD1‐reactive T cells.