Functional analysis of the TCRα-β cells that accumulate in the pneumonic lung of influenza virus-infected TCR-α-/- Mice

Abstract

In mice homozygous (-/-) for a targeted TCR-α gene disruption, some thymocytes express a cell-surface TCR-β chain on the cell surface in the absence of a TCR-α chain, and a few CD4+CD8- TCR-α-β+ cells accumulate in the peripheral lymphoid organs. We have infected these mutant mice with an influenza A virus to show that large numbers of TCR-β+ cells (most of which are CD4+) can be retrieved from the pneumonic lung. Both freshly isolated TCR-α-β+ cells and TCR-α-β+ hybridoma cell lines derived from influenza virus-infected mutant mice respond appropriately to stimulation with anti-CD3∈ or the Mls-1 superantigen. It thus seems that CD4+ TCR-α-β+ cells in the peripheral lymphoid organs of TCR-α ..