A XENOPUS LYMPHOID TUMOR-CELL LINE WITH COMPLETE IG GENES REARRANGEMENTS AND T-CELL CHARACTERISTICS

The first lymphoid cell line derived from an amphibian (Xenopus) thymic tumor shows an extreme form of lineage infidelity. Although it has rearranged in-frame the two alleles of the heavy chain, deleted one light chain locus, and rearranged abortively the two alleles of the second light chain locus, the cell line does not produce immunoglobulin molecules or message. It expresses a variety of T-cell characteristic markers such as Xenopus pan T-cell markers, CD8 equivalent and GATA(3) transcription factor. It does not express any major histocompatibility complex class I or class II molecules. It resembles some rare types of mammalian leukemias.