T cell receptor delta gene organization and expression in normal and leukemic natural killer cells
Biondi, A.; Allavena, P.; Rossi, V.; Bassan, R.; Barbui, T.; Champagne, E.; Mak, T.W.; Minden, M.D.; Rambaldi, A.; Mantovani, A.
Journal of Immunology 143(3): 1009-1014
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-1767 PMID: 2526173 Document Number: 342403
In peripheral blood most NK activity is mediated by CD3- cells with large granular lymphocyte morphology which cannot be assigned to a specific hemopoietic lineage. In accordance with previous studies we have analyzed the organization of the TCR.delta. gene, which rearranges early in thymic ontogency, in normal NK cells, and in granular lymphocytes proliferative disorders (GLPD), in an effort to further define their relationship to the T cell differentiation pathway and to identify a possible marker of clonality for CD3- GLPD. The .alpha./.delta. locus was rearranged in five cases of CD3+ GLPD with a biallelic deletion of the C.delta. region, suggesting V-J .alpha. rearrangement, whereas CD3- GLPD and normal CD3- NK cells had the .delta. gene in germ-line configuration, but surprisingly expressed high levels of TCR .delta.-related mRNA. On the basis of this finding and of the presence of truncated TCR-.beta. and CD3-.epsilon. mRNA, we are led to speculate on a possible ontogenic relationship of NK cells to the T cell differentiation pathway at stages preceding TCR gene rearrangement.