A role for the cytoplasmic tail of the beta chain of CD8 in thymic selection.

The CD8 coreceptor plays a critical role in the recognition of foreign antigens by mature T cells and in the development of class I-restricted T cells. CD8 can be expressed on the surface of T cells as either a heterodimer composed of an alpha and beta chain, or as a homodimer composed of two alpha chains. In this report, we show that a CD8 beta transgene that lacks a cytoplasmic domain can suppress expression of wild-type endogenous CD8 beta and act as a dominant negative mutation. We show that this dominant negative CD8 beta transgene interferes with the development of mature CD8 T cells to different extents depending on the individual class I-restricted TCR. These data suggest CD8 beta plays a role in thymic development, and that different class I-restricted TCRs differ in their dependence on the cytoplasmic tail of CD8 beta.