The signals via TCR and B7/CD28 involve in the activation and proliferation of human T cells, as well as immunoreaction. These signals are controlled by a complex network which is composed of many genes. To study genes involved in human T cell signal transduction, a suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique was developed to isolate the cDNA clones of genes that contained specific (differentially expressed) transcrips of T cells activated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 serving as"tester", and the normal T cells as"driver"in the experiments. By the sequences of which were determined and compared with the sequences in GenBank, forty three cDNA clones in the activated T cells were screened differentially. The results demonstrate that 4 clones represent the genes previously known to associate with signal transduction, including CCND2, RHOF, RHOA and IRF4;15 of 19 clones that represent known genes may contribute the signal transduction of T cells. In addition, the homologous genes of another 20 clones are not found in GenBank, which may represent new genes. Further studies of the functions and the interrelation of these genes can help to understand the mechanism of human T cell signal transduction and the physiological and pathological course concerned with activated T cells.
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