de Roemer, Gillian Mary;
(1996)
The effect of antibodies against thymic cortical epithelial surface molecules on the development of thymocytes in vitro.
Masters thesis (M.Phil), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Lymphocytes originate in the bone marrow as haematopoietic stem cells. Those destined to become T cells migrate to the thymus to continue their development as thymocytes. In the thymus, cell surface interactions between developing thymocytes and thymic epithelial cells results in the selection of mature T cells. Thymocytes with a T cell receptor which together with a coreceptor binds self major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins/peptide expressed on thymic epithelial cells with a low affinity are rescued from preprogrammed cell death by positive selection. Cortical epithelial cells are believed to be responsible for positive selection and cortical epithelial cell surface molecules other than MHC are thought to be involved. In order to find novel thymic cortical epithelial cell surface molecules involved in positive selection, monoclonal antibodies were raised against thymic cortical epithelial cell lines. The expression pattern of a cell surface molecule recognised by one of these antibodies, 5B6, was studied in a range of murine tissues by immunohistochemistry; 5B6 was shown to stain thymic epithelial cells in the cortex and isolated cells in the medulla. 5B6 also stained epithelial cells in the kidney, liver and gut. The effect of 5B6 antibody on thymocyte development was studied using fetal thymic organ culture: it was found to hinder thymocyte maturation. In order to clone the genes for cell surface molecules recognised by monoclonal antibodies, synthesis of a thymic cortical epithelial cDNA expression library was initiated.
Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
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Qualification: | M.Phil |
Title: | The effect of antibodies against thymic cortical epithelial surface molecules on the development of thymocytes in vitro |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Thesis digitised by ProQuest. |
Keywords: | Biological sciences; Antibodies; Thymic cortical epithelial surface molecules; Thymocytes |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10108714 |
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