Glycobiology Advance Access originally published online on June 5, 2008
Glycobiology 2008 18(9):719-726; doi:10.1093/glycob/cwn051
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disruption of thymopoiesis in ST6Gal I-deficient mice
2 Department of Surgery, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Tulsa, OK 74135, USA
3 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy, Tulsa, OK 74135, USA
4 Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK 74127, USA
5 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Tel: +1-918-660-3920; Fax: +1-918-660-3928; e-mail: kent-teague{at}ouhsc.edu
Received on March 31, 2008; revised on May 18, 2008; accepted on May 28, 2008
Thymocyte development is accompanied by sequential changes in cell surface glycosylation. For example, medullary thymocytes have increased levels of
2,3-linked sialic acid and a loss of asialo core 1 O-glycans as compared to cortical thymocytes. Some of these changes have been linked to fine tuning of the T cell receptor avidity. We analyzed ST6Gal I transcript abundance and levels of
2,6-linked sialic acid across thymocyte subsets. We found that ST6Gal I transcript levels increased following T cell receptor β-selection suggesting that this sialyltransferase may influence the development of early thymocyte populations. Indeed, low levels of
2,6-linked sialic acid were found in the earliest T lineage cells, and then increased in T cell receptor β-selected cells. To determine whether ST6Gal I influences T cell development, we analyzed ST6Gal I-deficient mice for disruptions in thymocyte populations. We found reduced thymic cellularity in the ST6Gal I-deficient mice starting in the early thymocyte compartments.
Key words: sialic acid / ST6Gal I / thymocyte development
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
A. Cariappa, H. Takematsu, H. Liu, S. Diaz, K. Haider, C. Boboila, G. Kalloo, M. Connole, H. N. Shi, N. Varki, et al. B cell antigen receptor signal strength and peripheral B cell development are regulated by a 9-O-acetyl sialic acid esterase J. Exp. Med., January 16, 2009; 206(1): 125 - 138. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
