Using single cell analysis to understand the thymic selection of NKT cells — ASN Events
  1. Schedule
  2. Session 6: Insights into the biology of innate T cells from imaging and transcriptomics
  3. Using single cell analysis to understand the thymic selection of NKT cells

Using single cell analysis to understand the thymic selection of NKT cells (#47)

Lisa Kain 1 2 3 , Marie Holt 1 2 3 , Louis Gioia 1 2 3 , Steve Head 1 2 3 , Paul Savage 1 2 3 , Florian Winau 1 2 3 , Andrew Su 1 2 3 , Luc Teyton 1 2 3
  1. The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States
  2. Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  3. Brigham Young University Provo, Utah, USA

We have gathered several lines of evidence that show that NKT cells are selected in the thymus on two ligands, a-glucosylceramide and a-galactosylceramide. In fetal organ cultures, we could demonstrate that these two ligands were remarkably similar in their selecting abilities, both being capable of supporting positive and negative selection, depending of the dose and nature of the ligand used. As a-glucosylceramide and a-galactosylceramide distribute to the cortex and the medulla, respectively, the question we need to answer is whether the two pathways of selection operate independently or together. In order to do so, we have used knockouts of acid a-glucosidase and acid a-galactosidase, the two selective enzymes that inactivate the terminal products of degradation of each pathway, a-glucosylpsychosine and a-psychosine, respectively. We will discuss in that context the advantages and limitations of using single cell analysis technology to access T cell repertoire and gene expression profiles and assign the characteristics of the two pathways.