Analysis of gene expression in FACS-sorted thymocytes

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Thymocytes, derived from hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow, proliferate and differentiate into mature T cells after entering the thymus. One of the biggest problems for thymocyte differentiation is that the accurate selection mechanism is still unresolved. How T cell receptor is closely and chronologically interrelated with "the selection process", how self-reactive clones are eliminated, and how CD4 and CD8 are differentially expressed, are still uncertain.To address these issues, we believe that the important key should be the isolation and identification of the subset about to go through the selection process. In this project, experiments were designed to analyse gene expression in subsets just before or after the selection. On the other hand, since, we realized surface markers and the computer application capable of analyzing their expression are not sufficient and not well coordinated, we undertook the substantial improvement of the analyzing program. With this renewed application, we could identify several subsets not noticed so far but may have apparent significance in thymocyte differentiation.A fundamentally new pathway for thymocyte differentiation is now being progressively constructed, and the findings would be an important infomation to delineate and identify thymocyte subsets about to enter the critical selection process.