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An endogenous retrovirus mediating deletion of αβ T cells?

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Abstract

A SPECIAL class of self-antigens (endogenous superantigens) is capable of deleting many murine T cells on the basis of their expression of particular T-cell receptor Vβ gene segments. In mice that endogenously express these antigens, tolerance is mediated in part by the clonal deletion of the relevant Vβ-bearing T cells1–17. The deletion of I–E-reactive Vβ 5.2-bearing T cells is dependent on the coexpression of an I–E tolerogenic coligand (Etc)14 and the gene for one of these coligands, Etc-1, maps to chromosome 12, near the mouse mammary tumour viral integrant, Mtv-9. Here we report a perfect genetic linkage between Etc-1 and Mtv-9 and show that Etc-1 is also involved in the I–E-dependent deletion of T cells bearing Vβ5.1 and Vβ11 domains. We also demonstrate that Mtv-9 transcripts are present in B cells expressing Etc-1 and suggest that the coligand recognized by roughly 15% of all T lymphocytes is encoded by the Mtv-9 genome.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Ed Palmer

    Present address: Basel Institute for Immunology, Grenzacherstrasse 487, CH 4005, Basel, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, 332 N. Lauderdale, Memphis, Tennessee, 38105

    David L. Woodland

  2. Division of Basic Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, 1400 Jackson Street, Denver, Colorado, 80206

    Mary Pat Happ, Kenneth J. Gollob & Ed Palmer

  3. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado, 80262, USA

    Ed Palmer

Authors
  1. David L. Woodland
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  2. Mary Pat Happ
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  3. Kenneth J. Gollob
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  4. Ed Palmer
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Woodland, D., Happ, M., Gollob, K. et al. An endogenous retrovirus mediating deletion of αβ T cells?. Nature 349, 529–530 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/349529a0

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