Reduced CD4 and CD8 expression in human thymuses treated with soluble CD4.

Recent data suggest that accessory molecules like CD4 and CD8 act as co-receptors in intrathymic T-cell development. Soluble CD4 (sCD4) molecules offer a novel experimental approach to investigate the relevance of CD4 interaction with its putative intrathymic receptor for T-cell maturation. We attempted to inhibit binding of surface CD4 on thymocytes to its intrathymic receptor competitively by introduction of human sCD4 into human thymus tissue cultures. Our results demonstrate that sCD4, while not affecting peripheral T-cell responses as shown in control experiments, significantly affects intrathymic development of T lymphocytes. Immature CD4CD8 double positive (DP) thymocytes responded w…