Transcriptional drivers of the T-cell lineage program.

Ellen V Rothenberg

Division of Biology 156-29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. evroth@its.caltech.edu

Current opinion in immunology 2012 Apr

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The T-cell development program is specifically triggered by Notch-Delta signaling, but most transcription factors needed to establish T-cell lineage identity also have crossover roles in other hematopoietic lineages. This factor sharing complicates full definition of the core gene regulatory circuits required for T-cell specification. But new advances illuminate the roles of three of the most T-cell specific transcription factors. Commitment to the T-cell lineage is now shown to depend on Bcl11b, while initiation of the T-cell differentiation program begins earlier with the induction of TCF-1 (Tcf7 gene product) and GATA-3. Several reports now reveal how TCF-1 and GATA-3 are mobilized in early T cells and the pathways for their T-lineage specific effects. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.