Use of monoclonal antibodies in a study of the development of T lymphocytes in the human fetus.

A panel of monoclonal antibodies (OKT3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11) was used for the identification of T lymphocyte subpopulations in cell suspensions of human fetal liver, thymus, bone marrow and spleen. In liver suspensions of 8-16 week old fetuses and in bone marrow suspensions (12-20 weeks) less than 5% of lymphocytes reacted with either OKT3, 11, 4, 8 or 6, whereas the OKT10 antibody bound to, respectively, 35 and 86% of lymphocytes in these tissues. In liver suspensions of 17-20 week old fetuses, about 20% of lymphocytes carried either the T3, 11, 4 or 8 antigen and more than 60% of lymphocytes were OKT10+. The maturation stages in fetal thymus (11-20 weeks) are comparable to those in the post-natal thymus, with the exception that a substantial proportion of fetal thymocytes expresses the T3 and T6 antigen simultaneously. In the fetal spleen (12-20 weeks), 40% of lymphocytes reacts with OKT3. These OKT3+ spleen cells may be divided into two subsets expressing either the T4 antigen or the T8 antigen. These OKT3+/OKT4+ and OKT3+/OKT8+ lymphoid cells of the fetal spleen can be further subdivided into a T10+ and T10- subpopulation. These data suggest that T lymphoid precursor cells, reacting with either none of the monoclonal antibodies or only with OKT10, are generated in fetal liver (up till 16 weeks gestational age) and bone marrow. Further maturation takes place in the fetal thymus, but also to a certain extent in peripheral lymphoid organs such as the fetal spleen, as evidenced by the coexistence of a T3+/T10+ and T3+/T10- subpopulation in this organ.