Thrombospondin-1 is a mediator of the neurotypic differentiation induced by EGF in thymic epithelial cells

Thymic epithelial cell component originates from cranial neural crest as we ll as from endoderm and ectoderm of the third pharyngeal pouch and branchia l cleft, Epidermal growth factor (EGF) has been previously shown to play a crucial role in directing thymic epithelial cells toward a neural-oriented cell fate. To identify genes that are involved in the EGF-induced neurotypi c differentiation of the thymic stroma derived TC-1S cell line, we studied EGF treated and untreated cells by RNA fingerprinting PCR-based differentia l screening. We obtained 23 distinct sequences including 18 known genes and 5 sequences previously unreported, which are currently under characterizat ion. Here, we describe the involvement of one of the isolated genes, the th rombospondin-l, as a mediator of the neurotypic differentiation induced by EGF in TC-1S cells. We show that thrombospondin-l mRNA and protein levels a re increased by EGF. More over, exogenous thrombospondin-l is able to enhan ce the outgrowth of neurite like processes as well as the expression of neu rofilaments and neural cell adhesion molecule in TC-1S cells. These observa tions suggest that the up-regulation of thrombospondin-l synthesis induced by EGF contributes to the differentiation choice of thymic epithelial cells toward a neural fate, reminiscent of their neural crest origin. (C) 1999 A cademic Press.