CHARACTERIZATION OF IMMATURE THYMOCYTE LINES DERIVED FROM T-CELL RECEPTOR OR RECOMBINATION ACTIVATING GENE-1 AND P53 DOUBLE MUTANT MICE

The T-cell receptor (TCR) beta chain is instrumental in the progression of thymocyte differentiation from the CD4(-)CD8(-) to the CD4(+)CD8(+) stage. This differentiation step may involve cell surface expression of novel CD3-TCR complexes. To facilitate biochemical characterization of these complexes, we established cell lines from thymic lymphomas originating from mice carrying a mutation in the p53 gene on the one hand and a mutation in TCR-alpha, TCR-beta, or the recombination activating gene 1 (RAG-1) on the other hand. The cell lines were CD4(+)CD8(+) and appeared to be monoclonal. A cell line derived from a RAG-1 x p53 double mutant thymic lymphoma expressed low levels of CD3-epsilon, -gamma, and -delta on the surface. TCR-alpha x p53 double mutant cell lines were found to express complexes consisting of TCR-beta chains associated with CD3-epsilon, -gamma, and -delta chains and CD3-zeta zeta dimers. These cell lines will be useful tools to study the molecular structure and signal transducing properties of partial CD3-TCR complexes expressed on the surface of immature thymocytes.