The Transcriptional Repressor Gfi1 Affects Development of Early, Uncommitted c-Kit⁺ T Cell Progenitors and CD4/CD8 Lineage Decision in the Thymus

In the thymus, several steps of proliferative expansion and selection coordinate the maturation of precursors into antigen-specific T cells. Here we identify the transcriptional repressor Gfi1 as an important regulator of this maturation process. Mice lacking Gfi1 show reduced thymic cellularity due to an increased cell death rate, lack of proliferation, and a differentiation block in the very early uncommitted CD4⁻/CD8⁻/c-Kit⁺ cytokine-dependent T cell progenitors that have not yet initiated VDJ recombination. In addition, Gfi1-deficient mice show increased major histocompatibility complex class I–restricted positive selection and develop significantly more CD8⁺ cells suggesting a requirement of Gfi1 for a correct CD4/CD8 lineage decision. Absence of Gfi1 correlates with high level expression of the genes for lung Krüppel-like factor (LKLF), inhibitor of DNA binding (Id)1 and Id2, suggesting the existence of new regulatory pathways in pre-T cell development and thymic selection in which Gfi1 acts upstream of LKLF as well as the E-proteins, which are negatively regulated by Id1 and Id2.