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Molecular mechanisms that control mouse and human TCR-αβ and TCR-γδ T cell development

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Abstract

Following specification of hematopoietic precursor cells into the T cell lineage, several developmental options remain available to the immature thymocytes. The paradigm is that the outcome of the T cell receptor rearrangements and the corresponding T cell receptor signaling events will be predominant to determine the first of these choices: the αβ versus γδ T cell pathways. Here, we review the thymus-derived environmental signals, the transcriptional mediators, and other molecular mechanisms that are also involved in this decision in both the mouse and human. We discuss the differences in cellular events between the αβ and γδ developmental pathways and try to correlate these with a corresponding complexity of the molecular mechanisms that support them.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the many authors whose work provided important insights into the topic discussed within this manuscript but who could not be cited due to space limitations. TT is a postdoctoral fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO) and his work on this topic is supported by a grant from the FWO as well as from its Odysseus Research Program. Related work in the laboratory of EVR was supported by NIH grants CA90233 and CA98925.

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  1. Department of Clinical Chemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, 4 Blok A, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Tom Taghon

  2. Division of Biology, MC 156-29, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

    Ellen V. Rothenberg

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Taghon, T., Rothenberg, E.V. Molecular mechanisms that control mouse and human TCR-αβ and TCR-γδ T cell development. Semin Immunopathol 30, 383–398 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00281-008-0134-3

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