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Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 177, 1481-1485, Copyright © 1993 by Rockefeller University Press
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R Baccala, BA Vandekerckhove, D Jones, DH Kono, MG Roncarolo and AN Theofilopoulos
Department of Immunology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037.
The ability to analyze T cell receptor (TCR) thymic repertoire shaping in humans by self and foreign ligands is hampered by the lack of suitable models. We recently documented that the mouse severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)-human fetal liver/thymus model recapitulates the TCR V beta gene repertoire of human thymocytes. Here, we show that an exogenous superantigen, staphylococcal enterotoxin B, administered to such mice induces clonal deletions in both CD4+8- and CD8+4- cells involving the same human V beta clones that are selected in vitro by this toxin. This model, therefore, may allow comprehensive studies into the effects of microbial and other agents on human T cell thymic selection processes in a biologically relevant setting.
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