{"doi":"10.1002/eji.1830270115","title":"A transgenic T cell receptor restores thymocyte differentiation in interleukin‐7 receptor α chain‐deficient mice","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Interleukin‐7 (IL‐7) receptor α chain‐deficient (IL‐7Rα<jats:sup>‐/‐</jats:sup>) mice have severely depleted lymphocyte populations and thymocyte development is arrested at the double‐negative (DN) stage. We show that thymocyte development in these mice can be reconstituted by the introduction of a transgenic T cell receptor (TCR), implying that one function of the IL‐7Rα chain is to initiate TCR gene rearrangement. Expression of the recombinase‐activating genes <jats:italic>RAG1</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>RAG2</jats:italic> was greatly reduced in the IL‐7Rα<jats:sup>‐/‐</jats:sup> thymuses, and in DN thymocytes from the TCR transgenic IL‐7Rα<jats:sup>‐/‐</jats:sup> mice, but was restored in double‐positive thymocytes from the TCR transgenic IL‐7Rα<jats:sup>‐/‐</jats:sup> mice. These data suggest that the IL‐7Rα chain controls RAG expression and initiation of TCRβ chain VDJ rearrangement in DN cells. In contrast, once cells have progressed beyond the DN stage of development the IL‐7Rα chain becomes no longer essential for RAG expression.</jats:p>","journal":"European Journal of Immunology","year":1997,"id":656906,"datarank":0.5926865577872142,"base_score":3.9512437185814275,"endowment":3.9512437185814275,"self_citation_contribution":0.5926865577872142,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.5926865577872142,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":51,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1714730,"name":"Susan V. Outram","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1714731,"name":"Jennifer Buckland","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1100,"name":"Michael J. Owen","orcid":"0000-0003-4798-0862","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":856644,"name":"Tessa Crompton","orcid":"0000-0002-8973-4021","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"A transgenic T cell receptor restores thymocyte differentiation in interleukin‐7 receptor α chain‐deficient mice","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Interleukin‐7 (IL‐7) receptor α chain‐deficient (IL‐7Rα<jats:sup>‐/‐</jats:sup>) mice have severely depleted lymphocyte populations and thymocyte development is arrested at the double‐negative (DN) stage. We show that thymocyte development in these mice can be reconstituted by the introduction of a transgenic T cell receptor (TCR), implying that one function of the IL‐7Rα chain is to initiate TCR gene rearrangement. Expression of the recombinase‐activating genes <jats:italic>RAG1</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>RAG2</jats:italic> was greatly reduced in the IL‐7Rα<jats:sup>‐/‐</jats:sup> thymuses, and in DN thymocytes from the TCR transgenic IL‐7Rα<jats:sup>‐/‐</jats:sup> mice, but was restored in double‐positive thymocytes from the TCR transgenic IL‐7Rα<jats:sup>‐/‐</jats:sup> mice. These data suggest that the IL‐7Rα chain controls RAG expression and initiation of TCRβ chain VDJ rearrangement in DN cells. In contrast, once cells have progressed beyond the DN stage of development the IL‐7Rα chain becomes no longer essential for RAG expression.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":3.9512437185814275,"endowment":3.9512437185814275,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"9022004","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2147389015","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":3.5672,"citation_percentile":0.93202202,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2019,"count":1},{"year":2023,"count":1},{"year":2024,"count":1},{"year":2025,"count":1}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Feji.1830270115","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eji.1830270115","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1002/eji.1830270115","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9022004","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["T-cell and B-cell Immunology","Immune Cell Function and Interaction","Immunotherapy and Immune Responses","Animals","Antigens, CD","DNA-Binding Proteins","Gene Expression","Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte","Hematopoiesis","Homeodomain Proteins","Interleukin-7","Mice","Mice, Transgenic","Proteins","RNA, Messenger","Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell","Receptors, Interleukin","Receptors, Interleukin-7","Signal Transduction","T-Lymphocyte Subsets","Thymus Gland"],"mesh_terms":["Animals","DNA-Binding Proteins","Hematopoiesis","Mice, Transgenic","Proteins","Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell","RNA, Messenger","Thymus Gland","Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte","Signal Transduction","Antigens, CD","Interleukin-7","Gene Expression","T-Lymphocyte Subsets","Receptors, Interleukin","Homeodomain Proteins","Receptors, Interleukin-7","Mice"],"keywords":["Biology","Thymocyte","Transgene","Cell biology","Receptor","Genetically modified mouse","Interleukin-4 receptor","Interleukin 4","Immunology","Interleukin-21 receptor","Molecular biology","T cell","Cytokine","Immune system","Genetics","Gene"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-11T22:50:29.269041Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}