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C Beauchemin

Publications and source records attributed to C Beauchemin.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

The fate of thymocytes labeled in vivo with CFSE.

The fate of thymic emigrants had so far been studied using a variety of markers, each of which had inherent limitations as to stability, toxicity, or selectivity. We describe a new technique which relies on the in vivo injection of CFSE, an esterified vital dye hitherto used at 80 times lower concentrations for in vitro cell labeling. We show that CFSE labels a representative sample of all thymocyte subsets and that these migrate at a rate of approximately 2-3 x 10(6) cells/day to peripheral lymphoid organs. We show that they enter lymph nodes at day 1 postinjection and stay for at least 21 days, whereas the turnover in the spleen is more rapid. We also show by immunohistochemistry, using peroxidase-labeled anti-FITC antibodies, that CFSE-labeled thymic emigrants are confined to T-dependent areas of peripheral lymphoid organs.

Animals↗

TL antigen is not linked to radioinduced thymic lymphoma.

X irradiation of C57BL/Ka mice induces thymic lymphoma after a period of 8 to 36 weeks. This latency period represents an ideal time window in which to follow the development of prelymphoma cells that give rise to overt thymic lymphoma. Several attempts have been made to identify an unequivocal prelymphoma cell marker but these efforts have so far been unsuccessful. We monitored the evolution of thymocyte populations containing prelymphoma cells during the latency period, using CD3 and TL as markers, in a transfer assay. We demonstrated that: (1) particular cell populations could appear or disappear; (2) there were at least two prelymphoma phenotypes: CD3loTL+ and CD3hiTL-; (3) TL could be present transiently; and (4) TL could be absent throughout the latency period. We conclude that split-dose irradiation may induce both TL gene expression and a prelymphoma state but that the two are not necessarily related.

Animals↗

Expression of protein tyrosine kinases in the murine thymus stroma.

Thymocytes not only receive signals from thymic epithelial cells but can also activate the latter, at least in the medulla. We have previously reported tyrosine phosphorylation of medullary epithelial cell substrates, after co-culture with thymocytes, and identified a number of protein tyrosine kinases in a line of thymic epithelial cells. We report here the in situ localisation by immunohistochemistry of JAK2 in medullary epithelial cells, of PDGF-R in medullary vascular endothelium, of FGF-R in Hassall's corpuscles, and the weak expression of JAK1 and RYK throughout the thymus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Dendritic cells prevent radiation-induced thymic lymphoma.

Thymic lymphomas develop in C57BL/Ka mice within 36 weeks after split-dose X-irradiation. Lymphoma development can be abrogated in such mice by the injection of syngeneic bone marrow from healthy donors. The abrogation mechanism is unknown, but since bone marrow supplies the thymus with precursors of thymocytes and of dendritic cells, we tested the ability of early thymocytes and of immortalized thymic dendritic cells to abrogate lymphomagenesis. Fifteen weeks after irradiation, mice which had received bone marrow or dendritic cells had an equally low incidence of lymphoma, whereas mice which had received thymocytes or which had been only irradiated developed equally high levels of lymphomas, indicating that thymic dendritic cells played a key role in the prevention of lymphoma development. When thymuses from 15-week survivors were tested for pre-lymphoma cells, those from dendritic cell-treated mice proved to be endowed with a level of lymphomagenic potential intermediate between that from bone marrow-treated mice (nonlymphomagenic) and that from untreated or thymocyte-treated mice (highly lymphomagenic). These data indicate that lymphoma abrogation by bone marrow cells involves the participation of marrow-derived thymic dendritic cells.

Animals↗

Up-regulation of a thymic epithelial ligand after contact with thymocytes.

Thymic medullary epithelial cells of the E-5 line were shown to form in vitro complexes with thymocytes resulting in no apparent modification to the thymocytes participating in the complex, but in tyrosine phosphorylation on a glycoprotein associated with the epithelial adhesion molecule. Because signal transduction from lymphocytes to stromal cells is poorly documented, we examine in this work events which follow epithelial cell activation. Our findings indicate that one chain of the epithelial adhesion molecule (gp23), after complex formation with thymocytes, undergoes a rapid and transient tyrosine kinase-dependent up-regulation.

Cell Adhesion↗

Establishment and characterization of a thymic medullary epithelial cell clone.

Thymic stromal cells were cultured in conditions which select for epithelial cells. These were then transformed in vitro by contact with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and cloned at limit dilution. One of the clones was characterized as being of medullary origin on the basis of its reactivity with a battery of antibodies previously shown to distinguish cortical from medullary thymic epithelial cells. The importance of this clone lies in the potential it offers to delineate how various T cell subpopulations acquire their distinct markers and function within the thymus.

Animals↗