The expanded populations of CD4-CD8- T cell receptor alpha/beta+ T cells associated with the lpr and gld mutations are CD2-.

Mice homozygous for either of two autosomal recessive mutations, lpr and gld, develop massive, generalized lymphoproliferation of CD4-CD8- (double negative, DN) T cells associated with a variety of autoantibodies. To determine the origin of these expanded populations of lpr and gld T cells, we examined the expression of CD2 molecules and mRNA transcripts in association with other cell surface phenotypes of these cells and correlated them with subpopulations of DN T cells in the thymus and peripheral lymphoid tissues. The results indicated that both lpr and gld cells are negative for the transcript and product of the CD2 gene. Both lpr and gld DN T cells were CD2-, CD3+, CD4-, CD8-, CD25-, CD45R+, TCR alpha/beta+, TCR gamma/delta-, HSA(J11d)-/+, Thy-1+/-, and Lp-1-/+. Studies of thymocytes in normal mice using three-color flow cytometry analysis showed that there are at least eight phenotypically distinct populations of DN thymocytes, one of which is similar to lpr and gld cells in terms of CD2-, CD3+, TCR alpha/beta+ and CD25- phenotypes, although they did not express CD45R, HSA, or Lp-1. A very minor population of these CD2-CD3+ TCR alpha/beta+ DN T cells were also detected in peripheral T cells from normal mice. These findings may provide insight into not only the origin of the aberrant lpr and gld T cells but also normal T cell development.