Expression of human cathepsin L or human cathepsin V in mouse thymus mediates positive selection of T helper cells in cathepsin L knock-out mice
25.03.2010
Sevenich L, Hagemann S, Stoeckle C, Tolosa E, Peters C, Reinheckel T.
Biochimie. 92(11):1674-80.
We report a compensation experiment in which the closely related human proteases cathepsin L and cathepsin V can both largely normalize the reduced T helper cell numbers in cathepsin L-deficient mice by mediating positive selection of T helper cells in thymic epithelial cells and rebalance the ratio of conventional to regulatory T helper cells. This suggests cathepsin V as MHC II invariant chain processing cysteine protease in human thymic epithelium, because it is much more abundant in human thymus than cathepsin L.
