3 - Non-deletional Tolerant State to a Cognate Antigen in TCR Transgenic Mice

Abstract

This chapter presents a study on the forms of negative selection and tolerance induction caused in F5 TCR transgenic mice by nominal antigen. For this study, mice were generated and maintained in a conventional colony free of pathogens, and H2NP transgenic mice were generated by using inbred C57BI/10 mice. In the thymus of F5/NP double transgenic mice, a complete absence of F5 TCRhi thymocytes was observed. The CD8+ peripheral mature population, on the other hand, was affected both in numbers and in the levels of Vβ11 expressed. The results of this study indicate that negative selection in the thymus can take place at different stages of thymocyte development. This can be accomplished as early as during the transition from CD4-CD8-TCR to CD4+8+TCRlo or later during the transition from CD4+8+TCRlo to CD4+8+TCRhi (F5/NP mice).