Impact of Hedgehog signalling on the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire

Abstract

We have shown that the Hedgehog signalling pathway regulates T-cell development in the thymus^1,2.  Sonic hedgehog (Shh) from thymic epithelial cells (TEC) signals to developing thymocytes to regulate their differentiation at key pre-T-cell receptor (pre-TCR) and TCR-dependent check-points^1,2. Analysis of TCR-transgenic mice showed that Hh signalling reduced TCR signal strength during pre-TCR and TCR-induced differentiation^2,3.  We now plan to test the impact of these changes in TCR-signal strength induced by Hedgehog signalling on TCR repertoire selection, by next generation sequencing the TCRa- and TCRb-chain repertoires from facs-sorted thymocyte populations at different stages of their development.

References

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