Heterogeneity of thymic epithelial cells in promoting T-lymphocyte differentiation in vivo.

To study in vivo the contribution of different thymic epithelial cells to T-lymphocyte differentiation, we have established several nontransformed thymic epithelial cell lines and developed an in vivo assay, not involving exposure to drugs or radiation, that permitted us to study the capacity of these epithelial lines to support T-cell differentiation. We found that cell lines EA2 and ET, which express markers of cortical epithelial cells, produce interleukin 7 mRNA and after being injected into the spleens of young athymic nude mice support in vivo generation of CD4+CD8- T-cell receptor alpha beta+ T lymphocytes (ET line) or both CD4+CD8- and CD4-CD8+ T-cell receptor alpha beta+ T cells (EA2 line). Both cell lines also supported generation of T-cell receptor gamma delta+ T cells but appear not to support development of double-positive (CD4+CD8+) cells. One cell line, EB3, which expresses markers of medullary epithelial cells, produces interleukin 1 alpha RNA transcripts but does not support T-lymphocyte differentiation. The results provide direct evidence for functional heterogeneity of thymic epithelial cells in vivo and show the involvement of different cortical epithelial cells in the differentiation of T-cell progenitors into distinct thymocyte subsets.