Gammadelta T-cell precursor-derived CD4- CD8- alphabeta T cells retain gammadelta cell function.

We have previously shown that some of the DN alphabeta+ T cells arising in TcR alpha-chain transgenic mice are of gammadelta T cell origin, based on phenotypic data and on their status of TcR gene rearrangements. In the present report we investigated the impact of alphabeta TcR expression on the functional programme of the mature gammadelta precursor-derived DN alphabeta+ T cells. Our results demonstrate that both their proliferative capacity and their cytokine production profile are similar to that of gammadelta T cells. Furthermore, both transgenic DN alphabeta+ T cells and DN gammadelta+ T cells up-regulate CD8alpha expression after activation, but, in contrast to CD4+ alphabeta T cells, are unable to induce proliferation of naive B cells. Thus, our results suggest that the effector functions of mature T cells are determined independently of the TcR isotype, probably at an early stage of differentiation, and thereby have important implications for current models of T-cell lineage commitment.