TY - JOUR
T1 - Involvement of E-cadherin in thymus organogenesis and thymocyte maturation
AU - Müller, Kai M.
AU - Luedecker, Carrie J.
AU - Udey, Mark C.
AU - Farr, Andrew G.
N1 - Funding Information:
Correspondence should be addressed to A. G. F. We thank Dr. M. Takeichi for the generous gift of hybridomas producing ECCD-1 and ECCD-2 and Dr. T. Jakob for helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants AI 24137 and AG 04360. K. M. M. was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research.
PY - 1997/3
Y1 - 1997/3
N2 - We examined the role of E-cadherin expressed by thymic epithelial cells and immature thymocytes in thymus organogenesis and thymocyte development. ECCD-1 MAb, which blocks homotypic E-cadherin interactions, inhibited epithelial organization and thymocyte development in reaggregate fetal thymic organ cultures. It also interfered with the differentiation of fetal liver cells or fetal thymocytes within deoxyguanosine-treated thymic lobes, but did not affect thymocyte development in intact cultured fetal thymic lobes. In contrast, antibodies that selectively inhibit interactions between E-cadherin and α(E)β7 integrins did not perturb thymic epithelial organization or thymocyte development, suggesting that homotypic E-cadherin interactions play an important role in thymus development and function.
AB - We examined the role of E-cadherin expressed by thymic epithelial cells and immature thymocytes in thymus organogenesis and thymocyte development. ECCD-1 MAb, which blocks homotypic E-cadherin interactions, inhibited epithelial organization and thymocyte development in reaggregate fetal thymic organ cultures. It also interfered with the differentiation of fetal liver cells or fetal thymocytes within deoxyguanosine-treated thymic lobes, but did not affect thymocyte development in intact cultured fetal thymic lobes. In contrast, antibodies that selectively inhibit interactions between E-cadherin and α(E)β7 integrins did not perturb thymic epithelial organization or thymocyte development, suggesting that homotypic E-cadherin interactions play an important role in thymus development and function.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0342276094&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S1074-7613(00)80328-3
DO - 10.1016/S1074-7613(00)80328-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 9075926
AN - SCOPUS:0342276094
SN - 1074-7613
VL - 6
SP - 257
EP - 264
JO - Immunity
JF - Immunity
IS - 3
ER -