Down-regulation of Tcf-1 Expression by Activation-induced Apoptosis of T Cell Hybridoma

The Tcf-1 (T cell specific factor-1) is a transcription factor uniquely expressed in T-lineage cells. Its expression is developmentally regulated, which is high in the specific stage of immature thymocytes, but is much lower in mature T cells. We cloned the Tcf-1 gene by subtractive hybridization and found it to be highly expressed in the thymus compared to the mRNA level in the spleen as expected. Since apoptosis occurs enormously in the thymus, we were interested in whether Tcf-1 gene expression could be regulated by such a high level of apoptotic assault. By using T cell hybridoma 70.7 cells, we induced apoptosis by incubating cells with anti-CD3 antibody in vitro. After apoptosis induction, Tcf-1 mRNA level was found to be significantly reduced compared to normal cells. Since Tcf-1 is a transcription factor for the CD3-e gene, we tested how CD3-e expression is regulated in apoptotic cells. The surface level of CD3-e protein is also down-regulated after apoptosis induction. Such a down-modulation of CD3-e protein would reduce the TCR/CD3 complex on the cell surface, which would be an important regulator for T cell apoptosis.