2026-10-11T19:38:51Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33871636 2026-09-17T05:29:23Z category_696 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Data Sheet 1_Upregulation of CD90 correlates with T lineage commitment at the DN2a stage of T cell development.pdf Dhruti Parikh (25001854) Karen Gu (25001857) Sara Tomei (3441323) Tom S. Weber (5369756) Shalin H. Naik (5620580) Mark M. W. Chong (13021581) Genetic Immunology cell surface markers CITE-seq lineage commitment RNA-Seq T cell development thymus <p>Early thymic progenitors (ETPs) retain the potential for alternative fates but commit to the T-cell lineage as they progress through the CD4⁻CD8⁻ double-negative (DN) thymocyte stages early in T-cell development. Current evidence suggests that T-lineage commitment occurs during the transition from the DN2a to DN2b stage, a process characterized by downregulation of c-KIT and CD44 expression. Moreover, Bcl11b activation in DN2a thymocytes closely coincides with T-lineage commitment. Despite this heterogeneity in Bcl11b-YFP expression within DN2a thymocytes, these cells have predominantly been studied as a single population due to the absence of cell-surface markers capable of resolving the corresponding substages. To define the T-lineage commitment transition process at higher resolution, we profiled c-KIT-expressing DN thymocytes in the mouse thymus using cellular indexing of transcriptomes and epitopes by sequencing (CITE-seq). This revealed heterogeneity within DN2a thymocytes. We identified two subpopulations, which we termed DN2a-1 and DN2a-2, based on differences in CD34, CD90, and Bcl11b expression. DN2a-1 thymocytes co-expressed multipotency and T-lineage-associated markers, whereas DN2a-2 cells mainly displayed a transcriptional profile consistent with T-lineage commitment. Functional assays demonstrated that DN2a-1 thymocytes were more developmentally advanced than ETPs but remained multipotent, whereas DN2a-2 thymocytes were more mature and largely restricted to the T lineage. Furthermore, in vivo clonal lineage tracing indicated that these subsets were on a developmental continuum. Together, these findings reveal that the heterogeneous DN2a stage can be resolved further by CD90 expression into pre- and post-T lineage-restricted subsets.</p> 2026-09-17T05:29:23Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1940310.s004 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_Sheet_1_Upregulation_of_CD90_correlates_with_T_lineage_commitment_at_the_DN2a_stage_of_T_cell_development_pdf/33871636 CC BY 4.0