Gene expression data from T-cell progenitors developing in response to DLL4 stimulation in the plastic thymus

Since the first description of the involvement of Notch signaling in homeostasis especially of T cells, there is great effort in research to find new target genes of Notch that are involved in T cell development in the thymus. We developed a stroma cell free system that is able to induce T cell development in vitro called the plastic thymus. Having this new tool we decided to use the gene expression technique to get an expanded and more global picture of the changes in gene expression in T cell progenitor induced by Notch signaling via DLL4-Fc. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression in developing T-cell progenitors induced by Notch signaling. T cell progenitors generated in the plastic thymus, defined as CD93 lo, c-Kit+ cells were sorted on day 5, RNA was isolated and gene expression was analyzed using Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Array. PC5B7 cultured with IL7 and SCF were stimulated with 2 μg/ml plate bound DLL4-Fc and compared to cells cultured without the Notch ligand.