E-cadherin-mediated interactions of thymic epithelial cells with CD103+ thymocytes lead to enhanced thymocyte cell proliferation.

Cadherins are a family of cell adhesion molecules that mainly mediate homotypic homophilic interactions, but for E-cadherin, heterophilic interactions with the integrin alpha(E)(CD103)beta(7) have also been reported. In the human thymus, where thymocytes develop in close contact with thymic stromal cells, E-cadherin expression was detected on thymic epithelial cells. By immunofluorescence staining, the strongest expression of E-cadherin was observed on medullary thymic epithelial cells. These cells also express cytosolic catenins, which are necessary to form functional cadherin-catenin complexes. Regardless of their developmental stage, human thymocytes do not express E-cadherin, indicating that homophilic interactions cannot occur. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that the E-cadherin ligand CD103 is expressed on subpopulations of the early CD4(-) CD8(-) double-negative and of the more mature CD8(+) single-positive thymocytes. Using an in vitro cell adhesion assay, double-negative and CD8(+) single-positive thymocytes adhered strongly to isolated thymic epithelial cells. These adhesive interactions could be inhibited by antibodies against E-cadherin or CD103. CD8(+) thymocytes showed a proliferative response when incubated with thymic epithelial cells. This mitogenic effect was inhibited by antibodies against CD103, which strongly indicates a direct involvement of the adhesive ligand pair CD103-E-cadherin in human thymocyte cell proliferation.